Eternal Warriors
by Shadow's Forge
Summary: Sixteen ordinary people... sixteen legendary warriors of renown. They have a connection much closer than they think... and that connection must be brought to full strength if they hope to save all life in the universe.
1. Prologue: Fire And Flower

_**ETERNAL WARRIORS**_

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Prologue: Fire and Flower**

* * *

Yukimura Sanada grinned and hugged his wife closer. Makie giggled and snuggled into his arms, her brown hair illuminated by the soft candlelight. In the illumination of the flame, he admired her lovely body.

Still, even after a year of being his wife, she was still the playful vixen that had attracted him.

"What's so funny?" he asked his wife.

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe it's just that you're still so clingy, if you know what I mean."

He laughed. Joker, always.

"Hey, I'm not the only one!"

"No, but you're still more clingy," Makie giggled, running her fingers through his neck-length black hair. He hugged her naked body closer.

"Men..." his wife said, smiling, "always thinking of one thing. I mean, really now..." He jerked back when her finger dug into his bare ribs.

"Oh, a tickle contest, is it?" he whispered, pinning her arms with his torso and jabbing his fingers into her sides.

They were both a hair over twenty, and married for a year, and heck, they still acted like newlyweds. Makie's mischievous energy must have done some type of osmosis into his own self. He blew out the candle.

"No fair! You're bigger!"

"That's why you shouldn't start a tickle fight!"

Unsurprisingly, their innocent game of tickle evolved into something less innocent. And far more enjoyable. And, afterwards, one that left him very, very tired.

"Oh, Yuki..." Makie murmured, tracing a hand over his hard chest. He stroked her shoulder, and felt a round scar. She said she had gotten that when she was seventeen and swimming for her high school. She had wrenched her arm, and it had had to be surgically repaired.

"Mm?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just so happy to be married to you."

He gave a snort of laughter. "I should hope so."

His wife chuckled back. "Really, Yuki, I am.

"I am too, love."

They kissed.

As sleep began to creep over his exhausted body, he smiled as he peered into Makie's lovely, sleepy visage.

Before he closed his eyes, he listened.

The streets of New York rumbled with activity, far below their penthouse.


	2. Chapter 1: Dreamers

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory Wong

* * *

**Chapter 1: Dreamers**

* * *

"Damn..." Nouhime Oda heard her husband mutter.

"What is it?" she asked, sidling up closer to her husband, sitting in front of a computer.

"Their foolish CEO is still opposing the merger," Nobunaga growled, pointing at the offending email. "Why can't he see that there's no future for his company? The only way his company can avoid bankruptcy is to merge with ours!"

He was getting tense again. She could sense it.

"Nobunaga Oda, it's nearly midnight," she scolded, rubbing his shoulders. "It's a three-day weekend for you. Work on it later. You have plenty of time."

"This is too important..."

She sighed. "More important than me?"

Her husband didn't answer for several moments. "Perhaps. I—"

He stopped when her nightgown landed over his face. He pulled it off, and stared straight into her eyes with his gray ones. She smiled as his eyes flicked down to look at her other... aspects.

"Noh, how will I ever get any work done with you around?" her husband sighed.

"Easily. I'm just keeping you from working to death," she retorted, running her hands over his beard.

He shrugged. "I guess it can wait..." With a couple button taps, the computer deactivated.

As she padded back to their bedroom, she reminisced over their last several years together.

Their marriage had been a rocky on, in the beginning. But, several years ago, they had come to an understanding, and she thought she had one of the most stable marriages she had ever seen.

In their mid-thirties, she thought they made a beautiful couple.

She opened their bedroom door, entered, and heard Nobunaga enter after her.

She didn't worry about their marriage's stability at that point.

* * *

Liu Bei watched from the deck as his wife gracefully dove into the water of the competition sized swimming pool. Sun Shang Xiang powered gracefully through the water, and he caught a glimpse of her athletic body as she pulled a flip turn on the opposite side. As she came back towards his side of the pool, he slid into the water, and apologized as he accidentally bumped into an obese man floating on his back.

California... home of the sunny skies and overcrowded swimming pools.

He powered after his wife, and caught up with her at the halfway marker.

"Yeah?" his wife asked a she smoothed the wet hair out of her eyes. Her boyishly short brown hair looked really nice with her green eyes and red one-piece.

"Nothing. I just wanted to catch up with you. The water looked so good I decided to join."

Shang cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I could have sworn you were checking out the other women..."

He mussed her hair. "Why would I do that? You're more than enough woman for me..."

"Bei, when will you learn that flattery will get you nowhere?" his wife asked jokingly.

He was about to reply, equally jokingly, that it had got her married to him, but Shang leaped forward and tackled him.

"Hey!" he yelped before he went under.

After a few moments of scuffling, his larger form allowed him to pin his wife's arms.

Giggling, his wife slipped out of his grip and tripped him underwater.

As he went down again, he thrashed and probably splashed a lifeguard because he heard "Hey! Quit the roughhousing!"

Grinning, his wife surfaced and stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

Right before he was going to lunge after her, a long whistle blew. The pool was closing.

He swam over to the side and climbed out. He looked behind him, and noticed that Shang wasn't in the water.

"What took you?" he heard a voice behind him say.

He just spun around and saw his wife grinning at him.

Giving a huge laugh, his wife started off towards the women's locker room.

Moments later they were heading towards their car.

Fun day, he thought as he started up the car.

Ten minutes later, they were home again.

* * *

_Smack smack smack_.

Meng Huo laid another series of powerful hits to the punching bag as it rocked back and forth.

"Ready?" his wife asked from behind him.

"Naw...Gimme a few more swings"

He heard Zhu Rong sigh.

He stopped the swinging bag and looked back.

His wife was the epitome of a kickass beauty. Nicely tanned flesh, silky blond hair—bleached, of course—and arms, abs, and legs that told she worked out quite a bit. She was pretty good-looking, and had enticing green eyes.

And she had a nice rack. Which she insisted on displaying with low-cut tops. Maybe that's why she worked out so much: to keep the drooling boys at bay.

He leaned to the husky side, but the flab was mostly gone. He was still wide, but muscled wide, not fat wide. He had biceps bigger than the average man's thighs.

He was okay-looking, he supposed, but not I'm-gonna-giggle-over-him good-looking. But he had really wild, curly hair that must have some chick-magnet value.

"Hello?" He heard his wife say impatiently.

Damn, must've daydreamed.

"Oh, yeah. Let's go."

They had been invited to some grand opening of the new gym. So, being one of the best weight-training coaches out there, he had been invited.

He ambled out of the gym and took a quick shower. After getting dressed in slacks and a jacket, he sauntered past his wife, who was wearing a low-cut—big surprise— knee length cocktail dress. While she was applying makeup, he waited at the bedroom door

Rong came out of the bedroom, looking like a diva.

Grinning, he held out an elbow. "Shall we go now?"

Rong laughed. "Lead the way, Mr. Hulk," she said as she hooked her arm through his.

They walked towards the front door.

* * *

"Keiji! Could you help me with this?" Okuni Maeda called as she tried to reach a high-up piece of glassware in the cupboard.

Her husband stopped his task of meat-tenderizing and ambled over to her. He reached up and snagged the pitcher.

"Here ya go." Keiji said, handing the pitcher to her.

"Thanks."

"For you baby, the world."

She giggled when his lips pecked her cheek. Then he walked back over to the kitchen counter and began thunking the meat again.

A traditional Japanese dancer marrying a rough, tough, and gruff law enforcement officer... how odd.

But they loved each other, so who cared how odd it was?

"How do you feel for next week?" Keiji asked her.

"I think we're pretty prepared." She was the star of a troupe of Japanese dancers who performed at world-class events. They would be performing for an Asian Festival next Thursday.

"That's good." Thunk, thunk. "But you're the best dancer ever, so what should you be worried about, sweetie?" Thunk, thunk.

She blushed at his compliment.

"Thanks, honey."

"Just tellin' the truth, Okuni."

Her husband chuckled.

She finished prepping the salmon. Shooing Keiji away from the stove, she opened the oven and popped in the salmon. That gave them an hour to barbecue the steaks.

She loved salmon, and Keiji loved red meat. So she cooked the fish, he did the steaks, and they would have a romantic banquet for two. She smiled.

Thunk, thunk.

"Almost ready?" she asked as her husband hammered away.

"Almost. You know me... I only take my meat brutalized."

They both laughed.

He gave one last thunk and put the tenderizer aside. He transferred the meat to a tray and carried the meat to the waiting grill, outside.

She watched through the glass sliding door as Keiji opened up the grill and began to lay slabs of meat on the hot iron. With a smile, she turned away from the view and went back to the kitchen, intent on preparing the salad. She caught a glimpse of their favorite picture.

It was a photograph of their first day married. Her husband, to whom she only chest-height, was behind her, hugging her, and she was holding his hands. They were both smiling that smile that only newlyweds seemed to have.

She gave a little happy sigh and went towards the deck, intent on asking Keiji how the salad dressing tasted.

* * *

"How do I look?" Zhou Yu's wife asked him, modeling a rather nice russet knit sleeveless blouse and tight khakis.

"Sexy," he replied. Really, she was.

Xiao Qiao chuckled and slowly rotated, giving him a full view of her.

"I'm telling you, it's great."

Qiao mock-pouted. "Just a second ago it was 'sexy'. Now I'm only 'great'. Did I do something wrong?"

They both laughed.

"Hold a sec," his wife said, and went back into the fitting room.

A minute later, Qiao, now in a red miniskirt and tan tube top, came out, holding the new clothes.

She purchased the clothing and walked out of the store with him.

He draped an arm over his wife's shoulder.

"Want me to carry that?" he asked, gesturing towards the bag.

"I'm fine. You hungry?"

"Yeah. Food court?"

"Sure."

They ordered some chicken sandwiches and sat down at an unoccupied table.

"How's the Anderson project going?" Qiao asked him.

He sighed. "It's doing okay, I guess. The only problem is that we're having problems with bandwidth management. I'm not completely sure of it, but I think the automated mail services are eating the bandwidth. Maybe we'll have to reconfigure the central units if we're going to keep that mail automation. Maybe a system-wide drive defrag."

"Yu... you know I have no idea of what you've just said, right?"

He blinked. He had a tendency to forget that she was an architect whenever he got into "tech-explanation" mode.

"Er... yeah..."

Qiao grinned. "Don't worry. I know you feel the same way when I talk about buildings and stuff."

He shrugged. "Well, let's just say we're puzzling to each other."

His wife leaned across the table and slugged him on the shoulder. "No, we're not. I think we fit together pretty well."

"Yes..." he murmured.

They finished their food, and took the escalator that would take them out of the food court.

They walked past some stores. Qiao stopped and tugged at his sleeve.

"I really think you need some new shoes."

Again? What was it with women and shopping?

"Well, I..." he muttered as he spotted a computer hardware/software shop. "How bout you find me some shoes, and I take a look around for that building program you need?"

Qiao rolled her eyes. "Men..."

"Well, I'll help you with—" He stopped when Qiao tiptoed and kissed him.

"Go ahead. I'll meet you there in twenty minutes."

Grinning at his wife, he stepped away, and took off for the computer store.

After thirty minutes, they met up again and exited the mall.

He and Qiao talked about clothing and computers all the way home.

* * *

"The night sky is so beautiful," Oichi said to her husband, Nagamasa.

"Not as beautiful as you, Oichi," her husband replied, squeezing her hand.

She was about to make a jab at his Romeo-talk, but she withheld.

So she responded by drawing closer, allowing her to put an arm around his waist. Masa draped an arm over her shoulder and drew her closer.

As they walked along the beach in front of their Texan beachside cottage, she looked up into the full moon, and then back at her husband's scarred face. He had received those crisscrossing lines of scar tissue when a burglar had botched his entry.

Those scars actually made him more handsome, come to think of it. His nicely tanned skin, sandy hair, brown eyes were accented by the marks. Not that she liked that he had had his face sliced by some bastard's switchblade.

He was still one handsome dude, though.

"What's on your mind, Masa?" she asked him.

"Several things. The majority of which will require us to go back to our room."

She made an exasperated noise and elbowed him in the ribs. "Do men always have such a one-track mind?"

"At my age we do. Some study a couple years ago concluded that teenage males think of sex every fifteen seconds. And I only turned nineteen five months ago. Marriage at a young age is nice thing, isn't it?"

She laughed, and they continued their stroll through the warm night air.

"Have you ever wondered what was out there? Out beyond Earth?" her husband asked suddenly.

"Once in a while..." she replied. "It doesn't really matter, one way or the other, does it?"

"I guess not," Masa murmured, rubbing his chin. "You're what matters, Oichi."

She hugged him closer.

They began to walk back to their cottage. She thought for a moment about her husband's joke about teenagers.

She let go of her husband and walked in front of him. She stopped and planted a hand on his chest.

"Nagamasa Azai..." she said.

"Yes, Oichi Azai?" he asked, grinning roguishly.

She plowed forward. Caught off guard, her husband fell onto the warm sand. She fell on top of him. She looked into his moonlit face.

"Masa, take off your clothes right now, or I swear I'll do it for you."

Several long moments later, they arrived back at their house, a little sandy, a little tired, but pretty satisfied.

After taking a nice shower—with Nagamasa, of course—she got ready for bed.

She took one more look at the moon.

* * *

Yue Ying watched her husband stroke his beard as he contemplated the chessboard. Wind rustled leaves in their backyard.

Zhuge Liang's hand floated over the knight, and moved it to a space that threatened her rook and queen. She frowned. The space the white knight had just occupied could be attacked by her knight. She forked the knight to take Liang's.

With a smooth, purposeful motion, Liang streaked his bishop past the space the knight had formerly occupied. She was in check. She moved her rook out of position to capture the piece.

Liang's queen streaked across the board and brought her under checkmate.

She smiled and tipped her king over. Nine times out of ten, he won.

"That was too quick," she said. It had been too quick. Eight moves...

"I agree. You seem distracted."

She didn't say anything. Her gaze drifted towards the ground.

"Dreams again?"

She bit her lip and looked into her husband's eyes.

"You know me too well."

"As you do me," Liang responded. His face grew serious. "Are they the same ones again?

She gazed into his face. Her husband didn't have that virile, vital look "attractive" men had, yet he wasn't unattractive. She herself wasn't exactly a beauty, but she kept in shape. They had been more attracted to each other's personalities than their looks, anyway.

She was stalling... she didn't feel like discussing this.

She sighed. "Yes... the same ones." She shuddered.

Almost every night now, she dreamed... of battle. A scythe-like battle spear of some sort was clutched in her hands. All around her, others, their faces shrouded, fought with swords, spears, and other types of weapons. Liang, wielding some type of fan, was blasting off rays of blinding blue energy.

A warrior in red armor was slashing away with a spear that had blades forming a cross shape. A young girl in a black leather outfit used her maneuverability to slay opponents with her knives. A huge man with wild hair batted away foes with a fork-bladed polearm of some sort, covering a young woman who was using an Eastern-style umbrella to knock back enemies. A man in green armor kept the enemy at bay with twin swords as he fought back to back with an athletic young woman who wielded bladed disks. Another young woman fought back to back with another girl, one using ornate fans, the other some type of weighted string. Two men not far off, one wielding a long saber in a beautiful, deadly dance, and another stabbing and slashing with a long battle spear. Another woman wielded what looked to be a bladed boomerang, while a gigantic man in wild garb used his own gloved hands and hefty bulk as weapons.

What they fought against was horrible.

She shuddered again.

She almost didn't notice her husband sit down beside her on the bench. He laid a comforting arm on her shoulder.

"Ying, do you think these dreams you've been having have significance?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I've learned to trust your dreams," he replied.

"I don't know. I might be having problems."

"I don't think so," Liang said, shaking his head. "You don't seem unbalanced in any way."

She shrugged. "I guess not... but these are getting persistent."

Liang looked like he was about to reply, when a flash of blinding white light flashed behind her. She turned around.

* * *

...And Yukimura and Makie awoke as white filled their room...

* * *

...And Nouhime and Nobunaga stared at the white luminescence...

* * *

...And Bei and Shang gaped as they walked through their front door...

* * *

...And Huo and Rong stopped as white flashed behind them...

* * *

...And Keiji and Okuni whirled around as a light flashed...

* * *

...And Yu and Qiao covered their faces as white light dazzled them...

* * *

...And Oichi and Nagamasa sat up as their darkened room was illuminated... 


	3. Chapter 2: Return

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Chapter 2: Return**

* * *

"What?" she gasped as the flash blazed through their room. 

She felt Yukimura's arms tighten around her as they squinted. She could make out what looked like a swirling vortex of luminescence in the middle of the blinding glow.

The light faded. In its place stood a youngish man clad in camouflage cargo pants and a skintight long sleeve black shirt that looked to be made out of pretty thick material.

Perhaps six feet tall, with black hair streaked with brown locks, and green eyes. He had a face that looked part Asian and part Caucasian, though she couldn't be completely sure. He was pretty handsome and young, when she looked a little closer. Maybe not too much younger than them, in fact. And if that shirt he was wearing was any evidence, he had pretty well-defined muscles. Not body-builder big, but probably larger than Yuki, and ripped. She noticed one more thing.

The man seemed transparent, as if he were a ghost.

This was totally weird. Naw, to heck with that. This was in the next county over from weird.

"Who the hell are you?" Yukimura called to the transparent person. "What do you want?"

The kid, smiled, revealing perfectly white teeth. "I'm glad even history couldn't keep you two apart..."

"Wha...?" she said, puzzled by the stranger's _non sequitur_. She felt Yuki shift against her as he reached for the Smith & Wesson .45 that was in a drawer in a nightstand on his side of the bed.

"You'll know, soon enough. And Yukimura Sanada, you can stop. Bullets won't hurt the real me; this is only a holographic image. And your phone line is deactivated."

She felt her husband cease moving.

"Anyway, like I said, I'm glad you two could be together, even if you're in the wrong when."

"What the _hell_ are you talking about?" she yelled.

"Do you really want to know, Kunoichi?"

"Oh, my God... he's a nutjob. He just called me 'chick ninja' in Japanese," she mumbled. "Yuki, pop him."

"I'm not a nutjob if I call you by your chosen name."

"Yeah, I have the name 'Female Ninja.' My name is Makie, you moron. You know, Yuki, don't cap him. Let's kick his butt and then check him into a looney bin."

With that, she charged out of bed—naked— and aimed a punch right at the guy's chin. It passed right through. Off balance, she fell through his "body."

"Like I said, this is hologram," she heard the kid say as got to her feet. Realizing that she couldn't beat that whackjob unconscious, she felt self-conscious being naked next a male who wasn't her husband... even if he was just a hologram. She moved her arms to cover herself, but she felt something soft and light hit her shoulder and slide off. Her night robe. She hurriedly put it on.

Good ole noble Yukimura.

"Do you want to hear what I have to say, and see what I have to show?" the stranger asked.

After a moment of hesitation, Yukimura answered, "Yes."

"Then you get out of our apartment," she whispered.

"Of course. But whether you stay is entirely up to you..."

* * *

"And why would we want to leave?" Nobunaga muttered. 

"Because you are not who you think you are," the apparition told him. He exchanged glances with his wife–now clad in a violet bathrobe—and frowned.

"Can't you think of something else? That line is much too overused in cheap horror movies," he growled at the hologram.

The young man chuckled. "I'm aware of that. But it fits the situation."

"What do you want?" Noh whispered to the stranger.

"To tell you who you really are."

"And who are we, then?" he growled at the man.

The stranger didn't say anything. He looked behind him, at the wall, where four bullet holes gaped. Slugs from his Colt .45 had passed harmlessly through the stranger's "body" and lodged in the plaster.

"You are Nobunaga Oda and Nouhime Oda... and you are not from this time..."

* * *

"Oh, sounds perfect. So, what, we're from the 1600s?" Shang Xiang said dangerously.

"No. You two lived circa 200 _ad domini_."

She and her husband gaped.

"Your story is getting more harebrained the more of it you spit out!" Bei snapped.

"Then let's make it even more bizarre: You two lived in ancient China, during a period called the Three Kingdoms Era. Liu Bei, you were the leader of the Shu Kingdom."

"My husband ruled _shoes_, is that what you're saying?" she queried sarcastically. If it hadn't been for the fact that she couldn't touch him, she would have kicked his face so far in that he would have needed a straw to eat.

"No, _Shu_. S-H-U." The man turned to her. "And you, Sun Shang Xiang, are the daughter of the warlord Sun Jian. You were loyal to the Sun kingdom until you met Liu Bei and fell in love with him."

"Ah... a Chinese _Romeo and Juliet_," she muttered scornfully. His lies were seriously getting out of hand.

"Not a bad analogy, except you two didn't die from some botched plot. You actually helped Bei fight his way past a small pursuit force."

She couldn't think of anything to say.

Her husband spoke up.

"So, if we did indeed lived thousands of years ago, how are we still alive?"

"Time travel..."

* * *

"That's impossible," Rong snapped. 

"At this time, it is. But not in three hundred years."

"Okay, you've played a pretty good trick with that hologram stuff. This has gotta be a prank from one of those guys at work. Who got you up to this? Jake? Zane?" her husband rumbled.

"Look to your right."

She took her eyes off the see-through stranger and looked to her right. It was their coat rack... So what?

"Now you see it, now you don't..."

She stole a puzzled glance at the man, and then focused back on her coat rack. There was nothing...

And gasped.

As she watched, a shimmering white blanket of light crawled over the rack and covered it. There was a blinding flash, and the rack was...

Gone.

Huo ambled over to the spot where the rack had been, and poked into empty air.

Mouth open in amazement, she looked back at the hologram.

He smiled. "I'm taking a guess that you believe me. At least, partially."

She and her husband nodded wordlessly.

The figure crossed his arms. "You see, to a certain extent, the how. Now, I believe, is time I showed you the _why_."

* * *

"This is probably overused, too, but we took you from your original timelines and replaced you with cyborg doubles because of an alien invasion." 

"_Aliens_...?" Keiji said incredulously.

"In the broadest sense, yes. And more. In all but four of our ground engagements, we've lost."

"That's bull. If you have time travel and stuff, you've gotta have super laser cannons and super nukes, and super whatever. It's impossible to lose—"

"It's not impossible, Keiji, if it's happened to us. Almost every single ground engagement, we have lost. Simply put, these creatures aren't affected by high-technological weapons. Blaster bolts, magnetic-accelerated shells, EMP cannons, artillery... they do nothing. Inches from touching one of the creatures... the projectile disappears."

"How can that be?" Okuni inquired. She clutched his arm.

"We don't know much about them, but our researchers have confirmed that they're from some sort of parallel dimension. Our scientists noticed a recent surge of electromagnetic and gluon activity about three light years from the outermost colony."

He and Okuni couldn't say anything for several moments. It was too shocking.

"Like I've said, these creatures aren't affected by technology... on the ground, at least. We've won almost all of our space engagements against the tin cans use as starships. But every time there's a successful landing, we lose. Simple."

"If you've lost every battle, where do we fit in?" He asked.

The kid looked him right in the eyes. "We need you to fight."

* * *

"You've lost almost _all_ your ground engagements, and you want me and Yu to _fight_?" Qiao yelled. 

"Yes."

"Why should we do it?" her husband snarled. "You want us to die, is that it?"

"No."

She grabbed her hair and pulled it in frustration. "Then leave! What you want us to do is suicide."

"For normal people, yes. Do you know how those four engagements were won?"

She and Yu shook their heads.

"With hand-to-hand battle. I'm the commanding officer of a brigade of soldiers called Mindlancers. We're a group of psionically-gifted individuals who use our powers as weapons. And we're the ones who've stopped the enemy advances. But now we're depleted to a mere battalion. Simply put, the average Mindlancer isn't enough to stop the invading swarms."

"And _we_ are?" Yu muttered

"Yes."

"How powerful are these 'Mindlancer' people, anyway?" she demanded.

"The average Mindlancer can kick a car twenty feet, catch crossbow bolts, and channel their psi-energy into energy blades that can through just about anything but another psi-saber."

She gaped. "And _we_ are supposed to fight with you. Excuse me for sounding incredulous, but even if what you say is true, _what_ can we do?"

The Mindlancer's face grew grim. "A lot. You may not know it, but you and fourteen other people have the power that probably rivals mine."

"Ah, so I can kick a car over our house?" she intoned derisively, gesturing to herself. She wasn't exactly an Amazon.

"Yes. You have psi energy too."

Yu sighed and rubbed his face.

"Fine, fine, I'll play along. What exactly are us arrow-catching warriors going to fight against?"

"I'll show you. But brace yourself..."

* * *

"_WHAT IN BLAZING HELL IS THAT_?" Nagamasa yelped. 

It was simply hideous. The... _thing_ stood seven feet tall, and looked like an insect crossed with an octopus. Its spindly, backwards-jointed legs. Four arms jutted out of where shoulder should be, festooned with spines and blades. The arms ended in three wicked, razor-sharp claws. Along the creature's back were a dozen tentacles that were at least six feet long. The bulbous head was shaped roughly like a pyramid tipped onto a side, and crowned in arm-long spikes. The creature had dozens of small green compound eyes, and a mouth that was ringed with tentacles about the length and width of his pinky. The teeth of the creature were large and wicked-looking. The creature had plated skin, like an overgrown bug, and was colored a dark gray.

"Strange you should say that. I seriously entertained the idea that these things were from hell." The young man gave a grim, humorless laugh.

He felt Oichi hug him closer. He saw that the bed sheets were slipping off her shoulders; he pulled them up, and focused on this Mindlancer character.

"What _is_ that thing?" he asked in a whisper.

"From what've gathered of them, they call themselves the 'Sraida'. They're some race never encountered in the known galaxy, and we have yet to successfully communicate with them. They don't seem unintelligent, as they coordinate quite complex field maneuvers. Strangely, they only battle hand-to-hand; they're ships are unarmed."

"And the only way to kill one is hand-to-hand, right?" his wife noted. She groaned. "Good God, this has to be type of dream."

"It's not, I assure you."

"Fine, fine. I'm tired of this arguing. What exactly do you need us for? Specifically."

"Let's just say if you don't help us, life in this galaxy is toast," said the stranger.

"Huh?" he grunted.

"We're reeling. All we need is time. Time enough to stop the largest planetary invasion yet.

"Largest?"

"Yes, largest. We estimate about one hundred thousand Sraida inbound."

* * *

"But your fleets can prevent a landing, correct? And even if they can't that number can be reduced, no?" Liang inquired. 

"No and yes. The fleet is currently on the other side of the galaxy right now, and we can only take out so many of their swarming transports. At best, our surface-to-orbit defenses might be able to reduce the number by six thousand before they make planetfall. But then technology goes down the drain and we're reduced to having troops with edged steel.

"What forces do you have?" his wife queried.

"We have a total of ten thousand troops."

He bit back a sharp remark. "Why is this planet so important?"

The young man sighed. "The planet in question has a research facility, with the best minds of several species working there. Perhaps the most important project ever to be conceived is nearing completion."

"Go on," he told the hologram.

"The group is developing a weapon that can actually affect the Sraida. I don't know the full details, but the device is essentially a tachyon displacer. It reads the bio-signs of the Sraida and creates a miniature warp gate to send them back to their dimension. Basically, each and every Sraida in the emitter radius is sent back to their universe."

"What's the radius on this displacer device?"

The Mindlancer rubbed his chin. "I'm told it's about three light years in diameter. If we're able to bring it to the main gateway, we'll be able to cause it to collapse."

"In other words," his wife spoke, "this is perhaps our only chance?"

"Yes."

Ying lowered her eyes to the ground. "Then we must help. I can sense he isn't lying, and... I've seen those creatures before."

He and the Mindlancer fixed his wife with stares.

"My dreams, Liang."

At that, he tore his gaze from his eyes, and looked at the hologram.

"It appears we have no choice. We will do our best to aid you," he told the Mindlancer.

The stranger nodded... and disappeared.

"What...?" Ying gasped.

He felt a tingling at his feet. He looked down.

"Liang!" his wife cried out."

A white sheet of energy, like that which had made the chessboard vanish, was crawling over him.

Then, he was seeing bright white... and then nothing...


	4. Chapter 3: Entrance

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Chapter 3: Entrance**

* * *

"Uhh..." Nobunaga groaned as his eyes opened. He sat up. "What the..."

He has been lying on some type of bed. He last remembered the white light crawling over him...

"Noh?" He called as he spotted his wife next to him on a bed right next to his. She was just awakening.

Then he noticed that she wasn't wearing a purple night robe. What she was wearing was purple, but certainly not a robe. It looked like an ornate Japanese dress. It showed a bit of cleavage and plenty of leg. He examined himself.

To his surprise, he was dressed completely in tight black leather. Frowning, he got to his feet. The leather was tight, but didn't inhibit his movements. Then he noticed that some type of high orange collar was over his shoulders. He felt behind him, and felt a flowing cape that was fastened at his waist by a—big surprise—black leather belt.

"Nobunaga? Where are we?" he head Noh say.

"I don't know. Probably where that stranger wants us."

"That's a nice thought," his wife snorted.

Shrugging, he took a look around. The room had steel walls, and was pretty bare except for the beds and overhead lights. What looked to be a door was at the far end.

He strode over to his wife and helped her up. They looked each other up and down.

He spoke first. "I like the look. Purple brings out your eyes."

Noh chuckled softly. "I have always been impartial to violet." Her mouth arched into a small grin. "That outfit fits your personality. And it makes you look so... squeezable."

He laughed. "I don't think know is the appropriate time, Noh. I think it would be best if we find a way out of this—" He halted himself when the door whooshed up and open.

He and his wife stared out the door and into a long steel corridor.

"Humph... Interesting," he muttered.

The corridor continued on for about twenty blank feet, and began to curve to the right. He couldn't see what could be at the end.

"Shall we take a look?" Noh asked him.

"Yes... why not?" he asked rhetorically.

Staying close together, they left the plain room, and walked down the corridor.

Surprise, surprise, they came to another door. It looked like the room's twin. He looked at his wife, and shrugged.

Then, it slid open.

He peered past the door, into a large room. The chamber beyond was about sixty feet from the door's edge to the open door at the other end... where another couple came walking in. The man looked young, and was clad in red armor and a red headband. The women was about the same age—he estimated at around twenty—and was clad in what looked to be purple short pants that cinched at the knee, a clinging midriff-bearing tank top stamped with a floral design, and a sash that was knotted on the young woman's waist on the right side.

He and the armored man caught each other's eye. Frowning, he walked forward into the room.

* * *

It looked like he and Rong had just entered a really weird costume party. Bad enough Huo was dressed in some type of barbarian-king outfit, but his wife was dressed up like some Amazon princess. Seriously.

Shifting his gaze from one person to another. There was a scarred kid dressed in green armor and a tall helmet with a ceremonial crescent-crest; next to him was a young, pretty woman with large eyes, dressed in a white blouse and miniskirt. There was another couple, this time a large man with volumes of wild hair and a flashy crimson outfit with armor plates sewn onto the shoulders, bells tied to the waist, and some pretty weird looking shoes. That man stood next to a stunningly attractive young woman in a red dress and sleeveless shirt. There were others, but his attention wavered when he saw the Mindlancer kid—now completely solid-looking—walk into the room from yet another door. The kid jogged over to the center of the room.

"Hey, we gotta move! A Sraida ship managed to covertly drop off its forces, and they're heading here!" he called.

"Hell, no," he muttered. He was just dragged—or whatever—to this screwy place, wearing weird garb, and he damn wanted answers... "Hey, you! Mindlancer boy! I ain't leaving until I get some information."

The kid turned to him. "We don't have much time. A Sraida force of three hundred is inbound. We have to move _now_!"

"Maybe you didn't hear me, kid... I'm _not moving_."

There was a blur of black, and he suddenly found the Mindlancer in front of his face.

But he had been fifty feet away just a split second ago... how the hell...?

"Meng Huo, we don't have time."

"I don't care... you tore us from our homes. Answer!" called one of the men, this one in spiffy green armor. That guy was accompanied by an athletic looking woman clad in red shorts and red-and-white shirt who could probably give Rong a run for queen of hot Amazons.

The Mindlancer sighed. "I guess I do owe you some answers. But I'll have to make them quick. The transports that'll take us to the main base will be here in five minutes.

"To start off, I'm General Zachary Adrian of the Mindlancer Corps. I'm also sixty-seven years old."

All eyes stared at the officer. The Mindlancer smiled.

"I've aged quite well, haven't I? It's a side effect of so fully harnessing my psionic powers. I age ten times slower than the average person. Objectively, I'm sixty-seven. Biologically, I'm eighteen. Which I'll stay for a couple more decades."

He, his wife, and everyone around the room were speechless.

"I'm not that surprising. All psi-warriors have a far-extended lifespan. But, then again, so do you people. All you need to do is—" The Mindlancer jerked as a small black box strapped to his right wrist chimed."

"Urgent message from HQ!" a female voice piped from the box.

"Report," The Mindlancer said tensely.

"A Sraida marauder detachment has interdicted and eliminated the rescue unit. This facility is now isolated. Marauder force ETA is ten minutes. Main dropship force incoming in eighteen minutes."

The sixty-seven year old kid let out a string of expletives. The black box continued talking.

"HQ recommends that the inhibitor nannites be unlocked ASAP. Generals Resathel and Diakrestis are moving in for support, but they'll make it here in thirty minutes. Message ends."

The general didn't say anything. The officer's lips pressed together to form a white, bloodless line. The man's head snapped to the left, and he seemed to be concentrating.

He saw his wife look in that direction, and followed her gaze. He gaped open-mouthed as a procession of objects floated into the room.

He stared as a pair of metal boar's heads set down in front of him. They looked hollow, and there was an opening at the back of each head. He looked over at his wife, and saw her staring quizzically at some type of hollow triangle with sharp protrusions. He looked up. The Mindlancer was typing furiously as computer terminal. His fingers were moving at a supernatural speed. The Mindlancer typed in a final dozen commands, and then threw some type of switch. He felt and heard a humming in the room.

Then, he felt something like cold liquid metal invade his mind. His vision blacked out.

* * *

His eyes popped open.

Nothing about him changed. But everything changed. He was...

Yukimura Sanada, vassal of Lord Shingen Takeda, defender of Ueda Castle, the Immortal Legend. But he was also Yukimura Sanada, who had grown up in New York City, living as a martial arts teacher for the past two years...

He turned to the person beside him. Kunoichi, his bodyguard, his loyal friend, the Moon Goddess.

She was also Makie Sanada, a seventh grade public school teacher and his wife.

He and Kunoichi stepped away from each other as if the other was aflame.

"Luh... Lord Yuki... Yukimura?" the young woman stammered. For perhaps the first time for as long he could remember, she couldn't think of something witty to say.

"I... I..." He faltered. This couldn't be... female ninja were not supposed to fall in love like this.

He felt a weird _something_ brush his mind.

"Dammit..." he heard the Mindlancer growl. "This is why I wanted you guys back at base. As if I we didn't have enough problems already. Christ..."

He blinked, and looked around the room. Several people were unknown to him, but he recognized Nobunaga Oda, the Demon Lord, Lady Nouhime, the Demon's Wife, Keiji Maeda, the Unbelievable, Mistress Okuni, the Diva, Lady Oichi, the Light of Hope, and Nagamasa Azai, Lord of Azai.

This was too much. At one moment, he knew the intricacies of sword forging; at another, he knew how to drive a car. The onslaught of information from two lifetimes, one real, one not, brought him to his knees.

He looked at Makie... Kunoichi. The little girl that had shown up at his father's doorstep had abandoned her real name when she swore service to his father.

"Kunoichi...?"

"NO!" _I_'_m not your wife_!_ I can_'_t be_!" she broke into completely un-Kunoichi-like sobs. "I don't... know what... happened. I'm so sorry... Lord Yukimura!" she gasped between sobs.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Kunoichi. I..." He couldn't think of anything to say. He just watched her sobbing form as her head drifted up. He saw Kunoichi's eyes fix on a pair of oddly-shaped daggers.

He leaped forward before the ninja could slash her throat with her own Kushinada daggers. He knocked the weapons out of her hands.

"Stop!" he yelled as the crying Kunoichi collapsed in his arms.

He was sure that his crimson armor wasn't the best thing to press against, so he did his best to present the softer padding to the weeping woman's cheek. The embrace reminded him of when she had learned that her friend had died in a horrific automobile accident, and he had hugged and comforted her.

Kunoichi probably had the same thought, and pushed him away. She fixed him with a red-eyed stare.

"Lord Yukimura, I've violated my honor, code, and most importantly, _your_ honor. Let me commit seppuku, and end this blot on your character."

He reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulders. That was completely unlike the woman he knew... whether she was a ninja or his... his... wife.

"_No_," he said firmly. "I'll never allow that. You can't—"

"_You can_'_t let me live with this dishonor_, _Yukimur_a!" she screamed. He noted that she had left out the honorific.

"No, you haven't," he said firmly. "I don't feel like my honor has been violated, and I don't think yours has been, either."

She stared at him with her dark brown eyes which were quickly filling with tears again.

"Lord Yukimura, how can you say—" her voice was cut off as a powerful rumble reverberated through the room.

He heard the Mindlancer general mutter, "Damnation, they're early."

Before Kunoichi could say anything, he shook her. "Vow to me now that you will not attempt anything against yourself."

As her eyes misted over again, he lifted her chin so she stared directly into his eyes. Unconsciously, her hand grabbed at the round scar on her shoulder, a legacy not from surgery, but from a Tokugawan musket ball from a sniper's rifle she had taken to save him. "We still need to watch each other's backs."

Kunoichi's lips trembled. "Fine, Lord Yukimura. I won't try anything like that... yet. We'll talk about this... and then I'll make my decision."

He just nodded.

When he had been younger, when he spied the same-aged girl taken in by his father, he was struck by her good looks and lively character. When he learned that she was to be his bodyguard, any hope of a real relationship evaporated. Thus he settled for being a comrade of hers, even if was technically her superior. They watched each other's backs, they had saved each other's lives countless times, they had grown as close as friends possibly could.

Now... He wasn't sure how to proceed. One part of his mind wanted their marriage to hold fast... yet another part of him knew that a samurai did not marry a ninja... especially if the ninja in question was his bodyguard.

A crack rumbled through the room, and a section of wall screeched as it was torn apart. A mob of gibbering, nightmarish creatures flooded through.

He snatched up his cross-bladed spear, the mighty Susano, and charged the horde.

* * *

Insane... that was the best word for it. A group of over seventy of the Sraida things had charged into the room through a tear in the wall and seemed to be intent on feeding Keiji his own entrails.

He lowered his fork-bladed spear as a Sraida charged at him. With a jolt, the creature impaled itself on the blades... and still reached for him with claws the size of butcher knives. With a grunt, he twisted his body and catapulted the Sraida over his shoulder. He watched the corpse sail through the air and smash into another bug that was going head-to-head with the chick wielding bladed discs.

He liked insane.

With a sweeping motion, he slashed through a knot of charging creatures in a welter of black ichors. Sensing danger, he whipped the weight on the end of his weapon into the face of another Sraida charging from behind, caving it in. The bug dropped.

A tangle of three Sraida flew past him. He looked back, and saw Okuni brandishing that umbrella of hers. She was knocking back these alien things, all the while dancing away from claws, and she still looked great.

He was jolted out his train of thought when another Sraida made a lunge for him, claws reaching. He knocked away the arms with the shaft of his weapon, and sent a left uppercut directly into the monster's chin. It flew in the air.

He presented the blades to the falling creature, and was rewarded with a jerk as the body sank unto the dual blades. Black blood spurted. He catapulted this one forward and heard a satisfying _smack_ as the body crunched into a knot of creatures converging on Noh.

Finding a lull in the battle, he ambled over to his wife.

"Y'okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Keiji. A lady can deal with oversized insects." She winked.

There was final screech as a surviving Sraida became a not-survivor, and all was quite. He spied several piles of chopped alien at the feet of the Mindlancer guy.

_Strong fighter_, he thought. _Gotta take him on one of these days_...

"Another transport unit is coming down. We should move south, where we can meet up with them."

He groaned. Running wasn't his favorite activity.

* * *

Liu Bei nodded to Shang, and dashed back to the spot where his swords' scabbards lay. When the Sraida had flooded into the room, he had unsheathed in twin swords and fought.

He gathered a sheath and strapped it behind him on the waist, the opened facing to his left. The other scabbard followed, this one put on his left, opening facing forward. He slid his two swords into their respective sheaths.

"Are you okay?" he asked his wife.

"I got scratched," she replied, showing a slightly oozing wound on her cheek. "It's nothing, really."

"It should be treated," he said back. He reached for the wound and wiped off some of the blood that had dripped down.

Shang grinned as she grabbed his hand and pressed it onto her cheek. He massaged the side of her face.

"That's why I love you so much," Shang said.

"Hmm?"

"You always care for others before yourself. And that's what got me to vow that Sun Quan wouldn't kill you."

He looked into her emerald eyes. "And your courage and liveliness were what attracted me... though those aspects intimidated me at first."

His wife was about to say something, when the Mindlancer called out "Hey! We have to move _now_!"

She rolled her eyes, and let go of his hand. They smiled at each other, and made their way over the bodies to the Mindlancer.

"Okay, now that we're all here, this is the situation. A whole swarm of Sraida warriors are converging on this position, coming from the northwest. Our ride, a squad of C-48E Armadillo APCs, is coming from the south. It'll be close, but if we leave now, we'll be able to make it to the rendezvous point before we get swarmed."

He heard two audible groans from behind. He looked back, and saw that the originators of the noise were Meng Huo, king of the Nanman, and a tall warrior with volumes of pale hair.

"I hate running..." grumped the Nanman king. "But fine, I'd rather run than get swamped by those bug things, anyway."

The officer nodded. "All of you, get going. I'll watch your backs."

The thought of several hundred Sraida spurred him to action. He gave his wife a look, and made his way for the tear in the metal walls.

Outside, he noticed that the ground was a dead brown color, with nothing growing for miles around. Swallowing deeply, he looked behind him.

The Nanman king and the Japanese fighter with the dual-bladed spear looked as if they couldn't run very fast.

"We stay together. I do not want any one of you getting separated and taken down."

One by the one, the other fourteen people nodded, accepting. However, the young woman with the floral-designed tank top looked at him with red eyes. She looked as if she had been crying.

"I'll scout ahead," the woman said emotionlessly. "I know enough tricks and I'm fast enough to avoid a fight if I have to. I'll—" she was cut off by the spear-wielding man in crimson armor.

"Kunoichi, you can't! I know how good you are, but if something goes wrong..."

The ominous looking man in black leather smirked. "Why not let her, Lord Sanada? She is only a servant of yours. Or is she?"

Sanada's—he wasn't sure if that was a first name or surname—eyes flashed as he whirled on the speaker.

"What would you know of such things, Demon Lord!" the spear-wielder spat. "If you couldn't be found massacring villagers, you could be found trying to kill your _wife_!"

The "Demon Lord" gave a sneering chuckle. "Perhaps, Yukimura. Nouhime and I have come to a mutual understanding concerning that." The man laughed. "Oh, my. I thought it was against the ninja's code to get involved with her master."

He drew his sword in time to block the spearhead thrusting towards the Demon Lord. His other sword stopped a couple of inches from the Demon's throat. The black-clad man's hand drifted away from his own sword hilt.

"Settle any arguments later, you two. We do not have the time for squabbles."

The two men stared at each other. Yukimura drew back his spear. He lowered his sword that had been blocking the weapon.

"This can wait for later, Nobunaga." The warrior in red turned looked at him, the impromptu mediator. "Perhaps with words, not blades."

Yukimura stepped away.

He looked at "Nobunaga".

"Humph. We will settle this in the future, Lord Sanada. Perhaps with words, perhaps not."

Nobunaga stepped back. He lowered his other sword.

He looked at the young woman called Kunoichi. "I believe it would be best if you stayed with the rest of us. We don't know what kind of ambushes these Sraida are capable of setting.

Kunoichi was looking down at the earth. She kicked a small pebble, nodding somberly.

He sheathed his weapons, and pointed towards the west.

"We are heading in that direction. I suggest that we go _now_."

* * *

"That was well handled, my lord," Zhuge Liang said to Liu Bei as they marched south.

"I thank you for your praise, Minister Liang," the Shu ruler replied. "I hope a surge of hatred will not manifest itself at the wrong time."

"Yes," he answered his lord. He thought for a moment. "While the two of them seem calmed down, I cannot be sure. Perhaps someone should stay next to them. Ying and I can do that, Lord Liu Bei."

He saw Liu Bei shake his head. "Stay here, Minister. Shang and I will deal with it." Bei turned to Shang Xiang. "Shang, watch Yukimura. I'll watch this Nobunaga."

Shang offered a wink. "What, you don't think I can handle this Demon myself?" she asked rhetorically.

"I have every confidence in you, sweetheart." Bei offered a wink back. The two of them sped up, taking up their positions behind their charges. Shang's chakrams stayed within easy reach, and Bei's left hand rested on the hilt of the sword fastened horizontally across the back of his waist.

As they marched on, he felt his wife stride up next to him.

"Since when did Lord Liu Bei call his wife 'sweetheart', and when ever did he start to _wink_?"

He looked at his wife, dressed in armor and wielding her scythe-spear. "Most likely it is a result from living in the modern world for two years." He winked at her.

Ying cocked an eyebrow. "It seems modern life has affected you as well, husband."

He chuckled. "It would seem so, my wife."

He turned away from her and focused on the travel ahead. The land was stark and plain. Nothing except a few stunted shrubs grew for miles around. In the east, the horizon was broken by a mountain range that extended to their intended destination.

"Interesting. I hope this facility we need to defend is nestled in either those mountains or behind them. Our forces will have a strategic advantage up there."

He saw his wife nod, accepting the fact. "I only wonder if the technological—"

She was cut off as the ground exploded in front of them.

* * *

"Yaaah!" Oichi cried as a Sraida burst out of the ground. She stumbled as the dirt churned beneath her. The Sraida that had appeared in front of her leaped into the air, as if it wanted to crush her beneath its spiny bulk. She scrambled to get her kendama into play, but a spear flew from behind her and impaled the alien's head. The force of the spear arrested the forward momentum of the creature, stopping it in midair. The creature dropped like a rock. She looked behind her and saw Nagamasa dodging the claws of a Sraida. She delivered a kick to the kendama's crystal ball, and it flew forward, snapping the Sraida's neck. Her husband dashed past her, and snatched up his battle spear just in time to block a descending Sraida claw. Shifting his body right, Nagamasa forced the alien to stumble, and finished the shambling Sraida with a thrust to the throat.

She picked herself off the ground in time to witness the very ground around the group split apart as nightmarish monstrosities burst out of the soil.

A Sraida fixed her with a multi-eyed stare and charged her. With her kendama in an awkward position, all she could do roll out of reach of the monster's claws. She wasn't quite fast enough, though, to completely avoid the reaching blades. She felt something tear, and saw that a rip had appeared on her miniskirt. She cursed.

She liked that skirt, dammit.

As the Sraida plunged its claws for her again, she rolled out o the way, kicked the monster's arms, and somersaulted back to her feet. The off-balance alien screeched, but that didn't stop her from snapping its neck with a spinning kick.

"That felt _so_ baddass," she muttered to herself as she entangled another Sraida's legs with the kendama string and yanked back. The alien toppled over, allowing her to deliver a fatal overhand blow to the fallen creature's head.

As she drew back the crystal sphere from the caved-in skull, she kicked backwards and connected with another yammering creature's face. She felt the carapace give under her heel, and the alien dropped with shards of shell in its gray matter. Or whatever color it was.

Waaaaay baddass.

Then a Sraida body-checked her and knocked her to the churned soil. Before she could be stabbed , she twisted out of the way. She was intent on feeding the buglike bastard its left foot when a sword neatly decapitated the alien. She looked to the sword's owner to thank him... and found herself speechless.

The sword belonged to one handsome dude. Silky, neck-length brown hair held back by a red headband, perfect features, and a nice-looking body from what she could see under clothing that was at both ceremonial and martial. He reached down with his left hand, offering her a hand.

She took it and the man pulled her to her feet.

Then he raised his left palm to her. A high-five? Now?

Then a fireball flew from the hand and struck something behind her with a sizzling crack.

Scratch the high-five.

Suddenly aware of more Sraida she whirled around, whipping the kendama ball around. The crystal ball broke a Sraida's leg, snapped another's neck, and knocked another one ten feet away.

Before the first body hit the floor, another mob of creatures were heading for her. She crouched and somersaulted, whipping the kendama crystal in a wide circle as she spun. She heard a series of satisfying crunches. As she revolved, she found the sword-wielding man engaged in an intricate dance that slashed Sraida left and right.

Gorgeous _and_ skilled.

She landed, and just for the heck of it, she gave a nice little flourish, just as if she had finished one of her gymnast routines. Pointless gesture, sure, but satisfying.

Seeing one last Sraida charging her, she rolled her eyes and kicked the kendama crystal, propelling it through the bug's chest in a welter of black gore. She pulled the sphere back, and dragged it in the dirt to get some of the ichors off. Unfortunately, there was precious little clean soil. She spied the red-dressed man, long saber sheathed at his side, walking towards her.

"Thanks for the save," she said without a waver. After the initial shock of the man's handsomeness, she didn't give it too much though.

"My pleasure," he said. "I don't believe I know your name."

Oh, man. He was trying to hit on her. If she hadn't met Nagamasa, she wouldn't have minded the attention; since she _was_ already married to a wonderful and good-looking guy, she didn't want it. She frowned a bit as she called up a memory. He had seen him in the facility with that pretty woman who didn't look too much older than her. She was about to tell him to step off when the man raised his hands in a disarming gesture, perhaps seeing the look in her eyes.

"I just want to know your name. I'm married, too."

"Oh. So am I," she said, a bit sheepishly. "Sorry about the suspicion. I'm Oichi Azai. You?"

"I'm Zhou Yu. By the way, that is in traditional Chinese form, with my surname first. You can call me Yu."

She was going to reply when Yu visible stiffened. She looked behind her, and noticed that Nagamasa was behind her. She blinked as she thought about the situation. Husband finds pretty wife speaking with handsome stranger.

If they had been a normal couple, things would have been tense. But, she and Masa were faithful to each other, one-sex-thought-per-fifteen-seconds notwithstanding. Masa shifted his battle spear to his left hand and extended his right. Yu took the proffered hand and shook.

"The name's Nagamasa Azai," her husband said. She was relieved when she noticed that he hadn't put any sort of emphasis on the word "Azai".

"Zhou Yu," said Yu. He suddenly looked off to his right, and waved. She looked, and saw that the young woman in red and tan was walking over to them. She noticed that the newcomer was very pretty. She suddenly felt a bit self-conscious.

"Hi." The woman said, giving a wide smile. "I'm Xiao Qiao, Yu's wife."

"I'm Nagamasa Azai, and this is my wife, Oichi," Masa said, extending a hand again. The Qiao woman shook it.

Shrugging, she extended her own hand to the stunning women. They shook.

"I assume you two are from Japan?" Yu asked. "Your names sound Japanese, anyway," he added.

"Yep," said her husband. "I'm assuming you two were from somewhere, somewhen in China."

"Yes... with emphasis on the when," Qiao spoke with a shrug.

"This might be a bit of an assumption, but do you two know the other Chinese people?" Masa queried.

"Yeah," came Qiao again. "Well, that gigantic man over there is Meng Huo, king of the Nanman, she said, gesturing towards an extremely wide man in barbaric garb. The other woman then motioned towards a wide-shouldered woman in skimpy clothing. "The Amazon chick is his wife, Zhu Rong. Um... the man in green armor is the Shu king, Liu Bei, and the athletic woman in red is his wife, Sun Shang Xiang."

She and Nagamasa waited for the older girl to continue, but Yu took up the conversation.

"The man with the war fan is Zhuge Liang, the chief military adviser and prime minister to Liu Bei. He's considered to be the most gifted strategist to ever be born; of the people I know, they only approached Liang, never equaling or surpassing him. Sima Yi was the only person I know of to come close to his genius."

After the man finished, Qiao rolled her eyes and dug an elbow into Yu's ribs.

"He's being modest. He neglected to tell you that he was our kingdom's best strategist. He gave Zhuge Liang a run for his money a couple of times."

"But, I lost..." Yu muttered.

"Sure. But, like you've said, Liang is phenomenal. Making him think twice is compliment, Yu."

"I guess it is..." the other man said contemplatively. He motioned to a woman who stood next to Liang, clutching a scythe-bladed spear. While the woman wasn't a beauty, she was well in shape, and had a regal aura to her. "She's Yue Ying, Zhuge Liang's wife. If Liang is the best strategist ever born, Yue Ying would be one of the best tacticians ever born. They work very well together."

She nodded, taking in Qiao's and Yu's information. She decided to introduce her "companions."

"Well, the man in the red armor is Yukimura Sanada, a samurai from the Kai region. He's a fearless and skilled warrior, and he's a good tactician, too. The ninja-girl following him around is known only as 'Kunoichi,' which means—"

" 'Female ninja.' I know a bit of Japanese. All those games Yu buys, y'know?" interrupted Qiao.

"Yeah. She's incredibly loyal to Lord Yukimura, though she has a very pronounced sense of humor. But, she's a good fighter and an excellent spy." She frowned. "Though I don't know what's been up with her lately. It's not like her to be this... melancholy." She decided to not dwell on the obviously distraught ninja for too much longer. "Um... The man with the blond bush for hair is Keiji Maeda, arguably the best warrior for his era. All I can say about him is that he loves competition, and he lives for the fight, and the fight alone. The pretty woman with him is Okuni, one of the best dancers I have _ever_ seen. And, apparently, a good fighter to boot."

Before she could continue, her husband took over.

"The man in black leather is Nobunaga Oda, Oichi's brother," Masa said softly. "I... I can't say too much about him, besides that he is probably the most ruthless person I've ever met. He... He's not a very kind person."

She looked deep into her husband's eyes as he finished describing her brother. He looked away. After all, Nobunaga was still her brother.

She laid a hand on his arm. After all, she was his _wife_.

"I know Masa. That's how he is."

Perhaps seeing an awkward situation, Zhou Yu cleared his throat.

"I think we best be going. It looks like the others are moving out."

* * *

"You think that's the convoy that the general was talking about?" Nobunaga asked his wife.

"I can't think of anything else it could be. Well, I could, but that would be much too depressing."

He grunted. "No, it's a convoy. It looks like a duo of hovering vehicles."

The group stopped and waited for the floating vehicles to approach. He squinted as a sudden gust of wind sprayed his face with dust.

This was truly a revolting world.

The armored personnel carriers—he couldn't think of what else they could be—stopped in front of them and popped a hatch at their rears.

A set of futuristic—or, more likely, up-to-date—combat armor tromped out of the APC and beckoned to them. Since the helmet was visored, he couldn't see what gender the soldier was.

"Let's go! We don't have much time!" came a rumbling baritone.

Giving his wife a glance, he stalked over to one of the open doors and climbed inside. Watching out of the open door, he watched the other temporally misplaced warriors clamber into other carrier.

Presently, he was joined by Keiji, Okuni, the Chinese man in green armor and his wife, and...

Yukimura and the girl ninja poked his head through the door, and froze.

"Maybe I'll take another one," Yukimura ground out from behind a frozen smile.

He grinned back at the samurai. He was sure that his grin was not a friendly one.

"As much as I would like to avoid your company, I do not think there's much room left in the other carrier."

The crimson-clad samurai said nothing and climbed in, followed by his ninja.

"Still with your... ninja, I see. I'm surprised you haven't let her commit seppuku yet." Kunoichi jerked as if she had been struck by a mace. "Oh, the dishon—"

"That's enough, 'Demon Lord'," the Chinese man cut in quietly.

He snorted in disdain. "By what right—"

"By no right but mine. This upcoming battle looks to be a bloodbath, and it will be more so if continue to antagonize him. Why not just show some human courtesy and drop this petty bickering?"

He bristled at the rebuke, but stopped when Noh laid a hand on his arm. She drew her mouth close to his ear.

"Let them alone. Please. I'm not an expert on this sort of thing, but Yukimura and the ninja seem to be suffering enough already."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Apparently content, the Chinese leaned back on the headrest of the seat and offered a shoulder to his wife. A moment later, the two were asleep.

Seeing no point in saying more, he laid his head back on the rest and began to slumber.

"I hope, uh, that this wasn't too big a problem," Zhu Rong heard Huo mutter sheepishly.

"For the last time, Huo, it's all good," Qiao said exasperatedly.

The APC was a bit cramped, owing to her husband's massive broadness. At least his belly was gone though, or the ride would have been much worse.

"Okay, okay. I'll stop."

The Japanese duo, introduced as Nagamasa and Oichi Azai by Yu and Qiao, chuckled. Her husband blinked.

"Well, I do pride myself in my wideness."

She giggled. "Huo, just a moment ago you were worrying about your—"

"Hey, lady, let my self-contradictions rest in peace."

The compartment echoed with laughter.

Her husband seemed ready to start another meandering monologue on the sexiness of his muscular girth—well, she did like that body—when the pilot of the armored vehicle called out. She couldn't tell it was a woman until she spoke, since her face was hidden behind a visored helmet. Facing her, she could make a bit of facial featured through the opaque-blue shield.

"We're coming up on the outpost. We'll be there in ten."

She turned around and peered through what must have been a firing port and caught a glimpse of what must have been the largest citadel she had ever seen.

There was a long, narrow pass, about two miles long and a quarter wide that led through the mountains. The pass was overshadowed by a sure lot of outcroppings, most of which seemed to be filled with towerlike constructs. They had to be guard towers.

Jeez, there had to be over two hundred towers. Serious towers.

She also noted that the towers were connected to those on a lower level by what had to be zip lines.

In addition to the towers, it looked like piles of boulders were rigged to drop onto the pass.

Serious defenses... but those weren't all, she saw.

At the end of the pass, there was a wide open field, easily four miles in diameter. At the end of the hilly field, directly across from the pass' exit, was a... wall.

Jesus Christ, it was a huge wall. It made the Great Wall look like... well, Qiao to Huo.

It had to be over two hundred feet tall. The great barrier seemed to be constructed of solid metal of some sort, and there seemed to be no visible welding lines or seams, not counting a band of holey metal at the bottom of the wall. The top of the wall was dotted with towers identical to those in the pass, and she could spot more boulder piles that seemed rigged to fall down.

The bottom section of wall, a band raising fifteen feet from the ground, was dotted with holes, probably to allow soldiers to push spears and pikes through the wall.

As the APC closed with the wall, she could see a huge door, over thirty feet high and fifty wide. Adjacent to the great door were several smaller gates, no more than ten feet square.

In front of the wall, stood another massive building. It was so huge she hadn't really noticed it as a structure.

The tower's main unit was a vague bullet shaped, pointed parallel to the ground, at least 300 feet long, 125 feet tall and 140 feet wide. Centered on the main unit on either side were rounded off rectangles nearly one hundred feet by thirty feet, and about fifty feet wide. Two bars of metal, one on each side, nearly fifty feet long, twenty-five wide, and twenty broad, were connected to the protruding cubes, angling down and out from the main pod. Connected to those were units that were composed of a bar of metal 150 feet long, fifty feet high, and fifty feet wide connected right to another hunk of metal 125 feet long and at least thirty feet high and broad. Along the back of the bullet-shaped pod were two cannon-like constructs easily 275 feet long. Good Lord, the openings on those things had to be at least ten feet in diameter, at least.

The bullet was connected by a "waist" to another unit, this 150 feet long and 60 feet tall, and nearly 100 wide. Connected to that were two support pylons, both strangely double jointed and articulated. The columns themselves stood 225 high. At the bottom were two more cubes, one for each column, each sixty feet long, fifteen high, and seventy-five wide. From those protruded four twelve foot long claws, three in front in a splayed fashion, and one on the back.

The whole damned thing was at least three hundred-fifty feet tall!

The color scheme was a camouflage hue mixing patches of brown, tan, and light gray, and she was sure the dots spread all along the pod were some types of weapons. On the two cubes stuck on the main pod were identical pictures of a black sphere floating in a pool of dull red blood. A drippy "9" was centered in the sphere in the same dull red blood.

What the hell was that thing? Could it be a—

"GAHHH!" she screamed as the pod rotated on its "waist" towards them. The "arms", now revealed to be a battery of cannons, tracked their APC.

Now, a bit closer—which meant about half a mile away—she could see there were three glowing strips of light running across the upper front of the pod, one on top of the other. Like eyes...

"Hey, ma'am, relax. That's just Nineball," said the pilot with a laugh.

"_WHAT_?"

"Here, lemme open up a commlink. Don't worry, he's a real gentleman," said the man next to the pilot.

She was about to ask what the hell that woman meant when the APC's communication equipment crackled.

"Titan CAW 19999-Nineball on station," came a smooth, heavily accented Russian voice. "Hello Gunnery Sergeant Robinson, Corporal Nyland. I assume you have four of our Special Forces warriors on board?"

"Righto, big guy," said the man, whom she presumed Robinson. "Talk to 'em."

"I would be glad, to, Gunnery Sergeant. To those who do not know me, I am Titan Continental Assault Walker 19999, designation Nineball. I'll be your massive robotic guardian for your stay here."

Despite herself, she let out a little chuckle.

"A comrade of mine, CAW 23485-Cobalt, is off on patrol. She is currently 16.071 miles from this base, where she has excellent conditions to probe the oncoming Sraida assault force.

"I thought technology can't hurt Sraida," commented Liang with a frown.

"You are correct, sir. However, Sraida ships are very vulnerable to anti-ship weapons. Both my comrade and I have the capabilities to engage starships from 5.25 light seconds out with dual singularity lasers, and mid-orbital ships with main weapons systems, two batteries of eight 155mm ultravelocity cannons. Atmospheric ships can be engaged with our gauss gatling guns, standard antiaircraft missiles, micromissiles, heavy blaster batteries, and, perhaps if we get lucky, our 300mm mortars."

She was sure her jaw was hanging open. It had to be. It was. She slowly drew it back up.

"Um, 'Nineball,' you said you pack 155mm ultras. Does 'ultravelocity' mean supersonic or relativistic?" she heard the Azai guy say. After he said that she noticed that his wife was looking at him funny.

Probably a sci-fi fan. Then again, they were _living_ in a damned sci-fi novel.

"Both. Usually, my main batteries utilize—"

"Hey, Nineball. Ain't this classified?" interrupted the Gunnery Sergeant.

"Shouldn't be, Gunny," answered the driver. "After all, these people are basically Mindlancers, right? 'Sides, Nineball probably cleared it with HIGHCOM."

"Correct, Corporal. I took the liberty, once you opened up the link, to clear this information with High Command."

She could almost hear the frown in Robinson's voice. "Really? How'd you know they'd ask you questions?"

"I didn't. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Silence.

Then the Gunnery Sergeant laughed. "I keep forgetting how intuitive and humanlike you mechanical monstrosities are."

"Of course, Gunnery Sergeant," said Nineball with a sniff.

That elicited another nervous laugh from her and the other APC occupants.

"As I was saying, sir, my ultravelocity cannons can accelerate projectiles to significant fractions of C. My usual payload is a 50-pound carbon steel slug accelerated up to 379.03567 miles per second. The kinetic energy upon release, in joules, in accordance to kinetic energy formula E½MA2, is approximately 4.2284 · 1012, which is slightly more than a one kiloton proton-shift explosive.

"You... you hurl tactical nukes around?" yelped the Azai guy.

"Usually, no. My gauss-coil/linear rail systems' capacitors are rapidly drained when I use the energy to accelerate the slug to that velocity. I can sustain, with a single ultravelocity cannon, a three-slug-per-second firing rate for six seconds before my cannon system requires critical recharge. Normally, I accelerate the slugs to Mach 54, or about 11.932 miles per second. With that velocity, the steel slugs will impart a joule count of about 4.176 · 109, which comes to approximately the energy released in a one-ton bomb. Of course, I can tailor the velocity of the incoming rounds to meet battlefield needs."

"Uh..." she heard her husband mumble.

"However, I also carry another type of ammunition, a 145-pound steel-jacketed, depleted-uranium-cored discarding-sabot penetrator that I use to engage ships in orbit. This projectile, because of its specialized structure, can be accelerated to .5C, resulting in a total joule count of 7.3654 · 1017 which is approximately 175.7856 megatons. Because the velocity is so immense the cannon capacitors are completely drained, requiring me to charge them. Approximately 9.7542 minutes under normal recharge allows me to fire that particular cannon again. My depleted-uranium penetrators are only used to engage orbital craft, as the uranium dust that would follow such an energy release cannot be metabolized by Terrans and most human foodstuffs. On the other hand, carbon steel is a combination of iron and carbon, which are both completely acceptable to the Terran body."

Well, the APC was pretty quiet at that. She just stared up—since the APC was pretty close to that walking mountain right now—and waited.

"The gate's opening now. See you later, Nineball. Out here," said the Gunnery Sergeant.

"A pleasure to speak with you all. Unit 19999 over and out."

The comm crackled, and she felt the APC glide forward, towards the opening gate.

* * *

"You have very developed defenses here," Zhuge Liang said to the lizard-woman.

Once they had gotten past the gates, the APC's hatch opened, allowing the occupants to debark. The slowly setting sun beat down from the east, since this world rotated in the opposite direction of Earth.

The open field the vehicles had stopped in was very large, giving sortie parties the room to maneuver. The field was enclosed by more walls, though none nearly as high as the main monstrous barrier.

Almost immediately after exiting, he had found himself face to face with a visored helmet, belonging to an armored soldier. The man was unarmed.

"Sir, I'm sorry that we can't let you rest much, but my superiors request your assistance." The soldier quickly added, "You wife is requested, as well."

He had looked at his wife, read her nod, and had said "Lead the way."

The armored trooper, who stood well over six and a half feet, probably near six foot eight, led them into one of the walls, down several corridors, until they came in front of a door. The trooper stood silent for a few moments, and the door opened. The had soldier departed after being dismissed, and he had caught a glimpse of the room's three occupants.

The previous fifteen minutes had helped get over the initial shock.

Actually, the correct name for the alien's species was "Arcone," but he thought Lizard-woman fit much better. It really looked as if a slender model's body was combined with several aspects of a saurian one.

The being was about seven feet tall, and had a six foot long tail. The female alien's scales were the color of jade, and the belly—as he could see the stomach through the midriff-bearing skintight sleeveless top and four-flapped skirt—was a light gray. The alien's hair—yes, it had to be hair; what else could it be?—was dark red. The saurian head was reminiscent of a velociraptor's, with a projecting snout, two eyes that could see forward, two nostrils on the end, and no discernible outer ears. The snout of the Arcone was a bit shorter than a same-proportioned dinosaur—assuming that the Discovery Channel got those details right—and was almost completely flat on top. The pupils of the alien were heart-shaped and scarlet.

The clothing that the alien was clad in was clearly a military outfit, though it wasn't something human's wore.

Even though the alien was so human and yet so different, he could see a sense of feminine beauty, in a nonhuman sort of way.

"I would hope so," said the alien without any hint of malice. "The combined tactical knowledge of three species went into fortifying this place. Now that we have you, I hope it can become nigh impenetrable."

"I'm only a government official," he said with a slight bow.

The alien—her name was Krydeesa-Cordev—smiled, and bowed back.

"That's not what I hear. From what your recorded histories say, you are, for lack of a better description, brilliant."

"Thank you... er..."

"Grand Claw. The rank's equivalent to about a Terran colonel. But, since we're going to be working very closely together, you can just call me Krydeesa, or even Dees."

"Oh. You'll be working with my husband?" Ying asked.

"Yes... um..."

"You can call me Ying. I'm sure my husband would have no objections to you calling him 'Liang'."

"Of course, Ying. However, Ground Force Commander Leeharodin Vir'lok and Colonel Kelly Ryan," she gestured to another alien and a tall, blonde woman, "will also be joining us. Of course, your skill as a tactician is equivalent with Zhuge's skill with strategy; as such, you're with us too"

"I cannot," he heard his wife say. He looked at her. She appeared to be blushing a tiny bit. "My husband is too—"

"Convinced of your abilities," interrupted the Gryth officer, Leeharodin Vir'lok.

For lack of a better description, A Gryth looked like a mythological werewolf. The body was vaguely human, with two arms, two legs, a head, and a very humanlike torso. The alien was dressed in what shockingly resembled traditional Arabian pantaloons and a low-collared, long-sleeved shirt, dyed a navy blue and piped with gold. The sleeves of the top were wide along the arm, but tapered to a cuff at the wrist.

Though he could see little of the alien's skin from the image, he could see that the Gryth was covered out in short, soft-looking, tan fur, furthering the werewolf similarity. The alien's muzzle was a little wider than a dog's of the same proportions, and it had two stiff, pointed ears that seemed very mobile. The alien's thick, muscular arms ended in four-fingered hands. A short tail jutted out from behind the Gryth.

But other features clearly made the Gryth alien. The eyes had a dark brown pupil, with a slit of an iris like a cat's or snake's eye. The legs of the Gryth had an extra joint.

In contrast to the Arcone, the Gryth was heavily muscled, abdominal muscles pressing up against the fabric of the clothing.

"Really, everyone has confidence in your abilities as a tactician. You should too."

He gave a smile as his wife sighed.

"If you say so," she said apprehensively. "I hope I can meet the expectation of everyone present..."

"Which you'll have to very, very soon," came a familiar voice. He turned around and saw the Mindlancer General walk in.

Adrian returned the salutes of the three officers, and unceremoniously collapsed into a chair.

"Put all stations into Code Red status. CAW Cobalt reports that over three thousand heavy transports are inbound. She estimates, after subtracting the ships she and Nineball will be able to neutralize, that one-fifty thousand Sraida are going to make planetfall."


	5. Chapter 4: Gust Front

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Chapter 4: Gust Front

* * *

**

"If it was under better circumstances, I would say that this is way cool," Zhou Yu sad sadly to his wife as he examined one of the "United Nations of Terra" Personal Aid Device. About the size of a pack of cards, the matte black box with rounded corners had a phenomenal amount of computing power. He would have sooo liked to take a look at the coding that ran this thing.

He and his wife were outside in the middle of the sortie field, behind the gigantic bastion. The day was pleasantly sunny, deceptively upbeat for the upcoming invasion.

"Hey, just because we got us a depressing situation doesn't mean you can't enjoy looking at this thing. I'm having a field day looking at this wall. Amazing architecture!"

He hazarded a smile and drew an arm around his wife.

"The beds are comfortable too, aren't they?" he said slyly.

Qiao made an exasperated noise and slapped his forearm.

"Can't you think of something else?"

"If I'm in a very comfortable bed with an extremely hot woman? Lemme think. Uh, nope."

The held each other, laughing, until they returned to reality.

"Do you think we have a chance?" Qiao asked him, laying her head against his chest. "Is there a chance to repel that many of those Sraida?"

He stroked his wife's hair. "I don't know, Qiao. I don't know..." he murmured.

He felt his wife squeeze his midsection tightly.

"Oh, God, Yu... I don't want any of us to die..."

Tears kept at bay welled up, and he smothered them on the crown of Qiao's head. As he pulled back, he saw that the moisture was making her hair glisten ever so slightly. Qiao looked up, and he saw that Qiao's eyes held a bit more moisture than usual, too.

He cupped her chin in his hand and wiped a tear away.

"None of us will die, Qiao," he whispered to her.

But he wasn't so sure.

Qiao seemed to lose some of the morbidity and smiled a little.

"We could be absolutely sure if someone like Lu Bu or Hua Xiong could be brought back."

"Yeah, we could," he replied wistfully.

He really would have appreciated the likes of Lu Bu or Hua Xiong, or, by God, someone like Zhou Tai or Huang Gai, to have joined them. But, it would never, ever happen.

General Adrian had given him an abbreviated explanation. According to the researchers of temporal mechanics, timelines were just a susceptible to damage as anything material. Every time one of the temporal-displacement agents, i.e. time travelers, went back—or forward, in some rare cases—in time to retrieve someone, that travel disrupted the flow of the timestream, minutely degrading it. If pushed too far, a timeline collapsed, "erasing" anyone involved with time travel. Furthermore, severe time quakes could even obliterate entire solar systems, or, it was theorized, an entire galaxy.

For these reasons, the United Nations of Terra—UNT—couldn't bring back anyone else. Any more monkeying with the timestream could result in a catastrophe.

It didn't make him any less fearful. He wept inwardly for his best friend Sun Ce, Shang's brother and Qiao's brother-in-law, or Lu Xun, his young, energetic protégé, or even that young punk pirate Gan Ning. He wouldn't ever see _any_ of them again.

What shook him even more was that _everyone_ in this little escapade was feeling the same thing. The suffering everyone must be feeling. Jesus Christ, how could anyone bear that kind of pain?

He felt a hand brush his cheek.

"Yu, come back to me. You've left me," said his wife.

With a smile he knew to be marred with his grief, he looked at his wife. "I would never leave you."

"Funny thing. It seemed like you were."

He let go of her and took her hands in his own. "I was just thinking of... of..."

Qiao's face lost its smile. "Of them. I know how it feels, Yu. We just... have to let them go." Her beautiful visage clouded over as she said that.

How could he comfort her? She lost her sister. What agony was she going through?

And that made him freeze. What if _she_ couldn't have been retrieved...?

Dammit, no, don't think of that.

So he just hugged her tight.

After a minute of just holding her, he let her go.

"Let's take a look at that mother of a wall again," he said to her.

His wife's lips quirked into a smile, ghosts brushed away. "Sure, why not?"

He took her hand and together they approached the massive wall.

"Hey, what happened to Nineball?" he heard his wife ask.

He looked to where the massive Titan CAW had stood, and saw that, yes, that metal juggernaut was definitely not there.

If someone told him that that thing had cloaking generators, or something like that, he'd probably wet himself.

Of course, there was always a better way to get answers.

"Hey, uh, PAD," he said to black box strapped to his left wrist.

"Yes, sir?" the Personal Aid Device replied in a electronically-generated monotone

"Where did, um, Nineball go?"

"Unit 19999-Nineball is currently at point 457-124, approximately twelve miles from here where he and unit 23485-Cobalt are preparing to engage the Quaadranyte assault force."

"What! Aren't those things, like, two days out?"

"Yes, sir. However, the speed of the Sraida transports is so low that, even with a two day journey, the ships are well within range of the Titan singularity lasers."

"Oh. Uh, thanks, PAD."

"A pleasure, sir." The little box fell silent

He looked at his wife. "Amazing tech stuff, huh?"

"You bet," Qiao said with a wide grin.

He took her hand again and made his way towards the wall. Since this world seemed to rotate opposite of Earth, the sun rose in the west and set in the east. Ideally, he hoped that the Sraida would attack sometime during morning, when the sun would shine into their multifaceted, inhuman eyes. He grinned. There was the inner strategist for you.

"Hey, aren't those, uh, Hadji and Omuki?" Qiao said. He followed her gaze to a tall man with wild hair accompanying a striking young woman. He noticed that the man was carrying two bundles, and woman was shading herself with an eastern-style umbrella.

What where their names again? He was sure it wasn't "Hadji" and "Omuki." Wait, he remembered. Keiji, and Okuni, right? Right.

He grinned and bumped his wife with his hip. "Come on, I can remember their names. And you... you've got to remember all those trigonometric functions and formulas and stuff."

She stuck her tongue at him playfully. "Hey, you're the one immersed in memory games! Jesus, you have to know binary coding, firewall locks, and all those geeky computer slang terms. Heck, what in the world is a 'cookie?'"

He put on a look of mock hurt. "What? Now I'm a geek?"

"Nope. You're too hot to be a geek. Besides, show me a geek who's a master strategist or saber master, and I'll burn this dress off."

He stopped, placed his hands on her shoulders, and rotated her so she faced him. He motioned his hands over his body.

"Well, here is said geek," he said sternly. He generated a tongue of fire in his palm. "Now, honor that bet."

Qiao rolled her eyes and smirked. "It was a _joke_, for crying out loud! Besides, do you really want _your_ very _beautiful wife_ to be very naked in this very sunny dustball?"

He laughed. "I guess not," he said. Qiao laughed, too.

He looked back towards the walking Keiji and Okuni—what was their last name again? Oh yeah, Maeda—and noticed that they were coming closer.

His wife, always the friendly, gregarious sort, steered him towards the other couple. They met face to face, only a few feet from each other.

"Hey, you're Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao, right?" Keiji asked gruffly. "I've heard quite a bit about you two."

A bit taken aback, he answered "Um, yes."

"Great. Now, me and you, we're gonna fight."

Unconsciously, adrenaline coursed through his veins. What...?

Okuni slapped her husband's bicep. "Keiji! Stop that!" He noticed that Okuni had a voice that seemed to be perpetually in song. A very beautiful voice.

"Huh?" Keiji grunted.

"Don't talk like that," Keiji's wife scolded. "You have a tendency to scare people, you know. You're very intimidating, I hope you know!"

The tall, muscular man looked at his wife thoughtfully. "Hmm... I guess you're right."

He cleared his throat. "Now that I know you're not trying to injure me, what do you want?"

Keiji smiled. "Sorry about that. Anyway, I want to fight you. In a nutshell, I like competition, especially when it involves physical abilities."

Keiji's wife poked her husband with an elbow and grinned. "Yeah, just like last night, when you tried to lift more weights than that Meng Huo character. From what I remember, he lifted nearly eighty pounds more than you."

Keiji's smile didn't falter one bit. "Hey, I know when I'm beat. I'd rather quit than have my sockets crunched." Keiji shifted his gaze back to Yu. "Which brings me back to my point. I saw you yesterday... you're a damned good fighter. I just want to see how well we match up."

"Oh, I see," he replied, any hostility melting away. "But I don't think anyone would like to see us chopped to itty-bitty bits, right?"

"Way ahead of you, uh, Yu," Keiji said, pausing a bit as he tried to work around the homophones. "I can call you Yu, right?"

"Sure. And I can call you Keiji, right?"

"And I think we should all be formally introduced, _right_?" Qiao interjected.

"Sheesh, lady. Sure," he said with a grin that was returned by his wife. "I'm Zhou Yu, as you two obviously know, and this is my wife, Xiao Qiao."

"Keiji and Okuni Maeda, glad to meet you both," Keiji said as he extended his hand. He took it, and felt a dry, warm, powerful grip take his hand.

That out of the way, Keiji returned to explaining how they could fight without loss of limbs and/or death.

"I talked to the sergeant major of this detachment, and he pointed me to these babies."

The other man unwrapped his packages, and he took a look at what they contained.

One item looked like a spear with a large weight on one end and two forked blades on the other. The other was a replica of a long saber... hey, his saber!

"These things are basically high-tech training weapons. They won't cut, and if I hit you, it'll 'draw' using a washable dye. Y'know, so we can record who gets hit and stuff."

He nodded. "May I?" he asked as he motioned towards his weapon.

"Sure. It's yours, you know."

He smiled and took hold of the saber's hilt. With a smooth motion, he drew his weapon and cut the air in front of him into four quadrants in a flourish. It was a little hilt-heavy, but that was really negligible. It felt just like using his personal weapon.

The other man picked up his spear, and twirled it through the air effortlessly. Unless he was wrong, that thing was pretty heavy, and it would take great strength to use it effectively.

He looked to his side, and saw that Okuni and his wife were sitting some twenty feet off, Okuni offering Qiao some shade from the noonday sun with her umbrella.

He looked back at Keiji, and saw that the other man was ready. Keiji held his spear single-handedly—though he knew that would change once they started duking it out—in his right hand, near the weight.

He shot a grin to his wife, and stood ready.

* * *

"This is actually quite interesting to—_YAAAHHHH_! Okuni Maeda cried as she saw Yu make a glancing blow to her husband. Keiji rolled away from the blade and made a twisting smash with the spear's weighted end. The other man dodged back like a snake, and the club-like hunk of metal passed an inch from his face.

Xiao Qiao gasped.

"Goddammit, he's scaring the bejeesus out of me! If he survives your man, I'm gonna kill him. See if I don't!" Qiao said.

She giggled. "Funny thing, Qiao. I was thinking the very same thing. Keiji sometimes gets too compet—_AAAHHHH_!"

A sweep kick from Yu knocked Keiji's left leg out from under him, and she saw her husband stumble. Yu went in for the kill, but Keiji intercepted the gut slash with his spear's shaft. Yu withdrew his long saber and slashed up and to the right, aiming for a blow that would take off Keiji's left arm. Her husband windmilled his limb out of the way, and the saber missed by a hair. Keiji retaliated by snapping his spear around. Yu easily dodged the sideways cut, but he barely evaded the overhead smash that followed. The weight striking the ground generated more force than it should have, and Yu was knocked off his feet. Keiji slid the weight along the ground, probably seeking to punch Yu in the ribs with it. The other man rolled away from the approaching attack, and slashed for Keiji's throat. Metal met metal with a _clang_, and Keiji levered Yu's saber into the red dust prevalent on this world. Yu's sword trapped, Keiji saw an opportunity to take out the other. The forked blades slid along the length of the saber, towards Yu's hand. Yu relinquished the grasp on his weapon and twisted away from the sliding blade.

She could hear Yu grunt as he leapt to his feet and snatched up his saber in one fluid motion. Yu slashed at Keiji's ankles, but her husband dodged the attack by jumping over the oncoming blade. Keiji used the momentum of gravity to twist his spear around and present the blades to Yu as he fell. Yu neatly dodged the attack, and Keiji's spear sank into the dust. Her husband tried to retrieve his weapon, but it seemed stuck. Yu used the momentum from dodging her husband's initial strike to target a whirling backhand at Keiji. Keiji shifted backwards half a step, and Yu's saber banged into the stuck shaft. Yu spun in the opposite direction and stabbed at Keiji. Keiji evaded the strike, and grabbed Yu's forearm and yanked. Yu got his other arm in front of his face in time to keep his face from striking the spear's shaft, but his body still jolted as Keiji pulled Yu into the pole. Yu rebounded off the weapon, giving Keiji enough time to jerk his weapon from the ground. The two flew at each other again.

Goddammit. She was really gonna chew out Keiji after this. When they were in bed. And reasonably tired. And happy. But she was gonna still chew him out.

"I really should be cheering him on, you know," she said to Yu's wife.

"Yeah. Then again, who cares? They seem to be doing well enough without."

She laughed. "Yeah, they do." She paused for a moment. "I'm assuming you two are originally from China. Am I right?" She shifted her umbrella so that they both had some shade from the hot noonday sun.

The other woman nodded. "Yeah. You two are from Japan, right?"

"Uh-huh. So, as you might have guessed, by husband has the unofficial title of being the best warrior of his age. He's a nice guy, though. He just likes to fight for the sake, of well, fighting. Or, as sometimes I've seen, fighting for what's right.

Qiao nodded, gazing at the embattled men. "Me and Yu come from the kingdom of Wu. My husband's—_WATCH OUT_!—a master with the long saber, but he was really well known for being a strategist. Actually, he was the best we had."

She smiled a bit at Qiao. "I don't doubt that he's a master strategist, but I really admire his movements. He's so—_AAAHH_!—graceful. I don't often see men who can match me. And he's good-looking to boot."

Qiao looked at her questionably. "Match you? How so?"

"Oh," she said with a faraway smile. "I'm a Japanese dancer. Kabuki."

Qiao's eyes grew wide. "Seriously? I've always admired those type of dancers.!"

At the other woman's unexpected reply, she grinned. "Thanks. Anyway, I guess I used all those dance-trained muscles and movements to whack around these Sraida things. How about you?"

Qiao smiled a little self-consciously. "In my 'other' life, I'm an architect, but back in my real time, I was pretty much—_WATCH HIS SPEAR_!—just another pretty face at the court. I actually have a sister, though..."

Qiao fell silent. She gave the other woman enough time to compose herself.

"I _had_ a sister, anyway. I ended marrying Yu, and my sis married a man named Sun Ce. The reason why I can fight well enough is because me and my sister, were, well, kidnapped.

She cocked an eyebrow at that. "Huh?"

Qiao smiled. "Yes, Okuni, me and my sister were kidnapped. But not by anyone. We had the luck to be kidnapped by a fat, ugly, repulsive, egotistical dictator bastard. After that semi-traumatic experience, me and my sis took up... uh... fans."

"Fans?"

"Yeah, fans. You know, court ladies always carry fans and stuff. Except ours were metal overlaid with ornate cloth and stuff. We could pull off the tops and, boom, you had a fan with razor edges, Mortal Kombat style."

She nodded, then laughed at Qiao'd mock bravado. "Nice."

"Thanks."

They were silent for a little bit, except when they shouted advice to their respective mates. She pretty much liked this Qiao woman. Someone stupid might just peg her as a hottie airhead, but to be an architect, you had to have brains. And airheads didn't master razor-fans. In addition, she was a very fun to talk with. And she didn't have the personality of a wet sponge.

Qiao picked up a pebble and tossed it a few feet away.

"You're very pretty, you know that," Qiao said in a soft voice.

She snorted. This lady concerned with her looks? No way. "You're one to talk. You're gorgeous."

Qiao shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. But you're... I mean, wow."

"Don't bother with it. Our husbands think we're the most beautiful things on earth, and I'm pretty sure me and you get treated pretty, um, well, so what's to talk about?"

"'_Treated well_?'"

She coughed.

Qiao rolled her eyes. "I'll have to agree with you on that."

They both giggled a little.

She resumed concentrating on Keiji and Yu again. Yu swung out his free arm and stopped the spear, touching just below the blades. He aimed a rolling slash at Keiji's legs, but her husband twisted, using his spear as a point of rotation. The weighted end fell, and Yu's cut slapped into the hunk of metal. Recovering, Yu attacked Keiji in a flurry of blows, Keiji blocking every one. They went back and forth for a few moments.

Then Yu made a slice up and left, and the saber settled neatly between the spear's blades. Keiji twisted. Instead of getting himself off balance, Yu let go of the saber and waited for it to rotate back. Obviously, her husband hadn't anticipated this, and so put it back squarely in Yu's hands. Yu withdrew his blade from the entanglement, and angled an upward slash that would have potentially gutted her husband.

Keiji knocked up the blade with the back of his spear, and slid forward, his arms crossed over one another to get the blades on his right side. Yu stumbled forward, a large red line drawn his chest. He fell to he ground.

Yu's sword flew from nerveless hands and stuck, quivering ominously, into the dirt.

No... The weapons weren't dulled. Keiji had just killed...

"YU!" Qiao screamed in anguish and bolted for her husband.

Then Yu surprised them both by rolling onto his back and holding up his hands.

"Ahh... You win," said Yu.

Qiao stopped in mid-stride and fell head over heels. The other woman oriented herself, and she sat down, gaping at Yu.

Keiji sauntered over and offered a hand to Yu, who took it. Once the two men were back on their feet, she strode over and spitted Keiji with a glare, her hands on her hips.

"Next time warn us that the dye's the color of blood!"

"Uh, sorry."

Her annoyance melted a bit at Keiji's abashed look.

"You should be sorry! You just scared Qiao out of her mind!"

Keiji looked down at the dirt. "Sorry, Qiao. I forgot to tell you."

"Oh, it's okay," Qiao said, her breathing slowing down.

Keiji looked up sheepishly, brushing his hands through his wild hair. The rest of her annoyance evaporated.

"Oh, you tiger you," she said affectionately.

Keiji's grin returned in full force.

"Yep." Her husband turned to Yu. "That was a pretty good one. You're damned good, you know that?"

Yu shrugged. "Thanks. But, jeez, you're phenomenal."

Keiji winked. I didn't earn the title 'The Unbelievable' for nothing, ya know."

Yu laughed.

She cut in. "Maybe we should get cleaned up and fed. I'm sure you two fiercesest super-trooper yous are sticky and hungry."

Kejiji scratched his chin. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, we are given our own little suites, which is odd for a military base. No, I'm not complaining. I'm just thinking a nice shower would be nice."

She nodded at Qiao's suggestion. "Sure, why not?"

She and Keiji walked back to the base with the other couple.

"Bye for now!" she called to Qiao. The other woman waved back.

When they were out of earshot, she looked at her husband.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little beat, but too much. I'd be glad to have that guy watching my back. Damned good, he is."

They got to their room, and she ordered her PAD to unlock the door. She and Keiji walked in. While Keiji turned on the shower and got cleaned up, she sat on the bed.

Some words came to her mind: "treated well".

Feeling a mischievous smile spread over her face, she disrobed and walked towards the bathroom, where she could here the patter of the shower.

Hopefully, Keiji wasn't too tired.

* * *

Normally, she would probably have thought the mile-long streaks of blinding white energy, and the thundering crack that accompanied the discharge, as awesome.

But it wasn't normal.

Makie—No, no, that wasn't her name, goddammit. It was _Kunoichi_—sat behind one of the guard towers, on a rock shelf, near the entrance of the mountain pass. With all their fancy-schmancy sensors and tools, a deft application of ninjitsu magic let her move undetected.

She looked down suddenly, and peered at the ground made black by the slowly setting sun. How easy it would be to hurl herself...

But no. She had given Yuki—no, Lord Yukimura—her word.

As much as that pissed her off right now.

But did it really piss her off?

Part of her desperately wanted to go to Yukimura and hold him, and not stop holding him until those Sraida touched down. But another part of her wanted to run screaming in the other direction, horrified of what she'd done.

Almost unconsciously, she slipped a shuriken from her belt and toyed with it, casually flicking it in the air.

A part of her loved him still, and she was certain he had feelings for her still. But she wasn't sure if she could get herself to love him as she once had...

She caught the falling dart by the handle and tossed it up again.

How easy it would be to throw it up high into the air, position her throat... and gravity would do the rest... and Yukimura's honor—and hers—would be restored. But, somehow, suicide didn't appeal to her.

Catch. Flip.

Maybe she could just leave, and remain a free spirit for as long as she lived. That was always an alternative. No Yukimura, no problem.

Catch. Flip.

The question was, though, _did_ she really want to leave him?

"Dammit!" she cursed when she missed the catch and the razor-sharp dart nicked her fingers. Gritting her teeth, she snatched up the bloody shuriken and gripped it tightly in her hand by the handle.

It could be so easy to slip it into her stomach, draw it horizontally, then...

With a scream, and hurled the dart towards the rock wall thirty feet behind her.

"What the..." she whispered when she saw the dart suddenly stop in midair.

To her amazement, the air rippled, as if it were fabric, and bled away from the form of one of those Lizard-people—an Arkron, right? As it fully became visible, she could see it was a female with blue scales, teal hair, and purple eyes, dressed in leather four-section skirt and a midriff-bearing sleeveless shirt. And it was pretty short, too. Most Arcones she had seen were almost always over seven feet, but this one was barely six feet tall.

The Arcone female's left hand held the dart by the flat of the blade.

"It's Arcone, by the way, not 'Arkron,'" the alien said in a voice that should have belonged to a young woman.

"So what? Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"A Grand Clawmaster... more or less a general."

"Ooh... an officer. Now leave me the hell alone," she snapped.

The Arcone eyes looked amused. "Do you know my name?"

"Leave me alone."

"I'm Resathel-Ranix-Adrian."

"I told you—Adrian?"

"I'm General Adrian's wife."

She stared unflatteringly at the alien. If you looked at it, this Resathel person had a certain degree of beauty—if you looked at her under alien standards—but what was a totally attractive guy like Adrian hooking up with her?

"It's a good question, I guess. Me and Zach—General Adrian—got that a lot when we... dated."

Okay, this was weird.

"Not really. I have extended psionic abilities. I'm an Arbalest. I can read your surface thoughts."

She curled her lips into a snarl. "Okay, Miss I'm-Named-After-A-Crossbow, then you know I want you to _leave me the hell alone_!"

Resathel sighed. "Do you, really?"

"What do you mean 'do you'? Of course—"

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about me," the Arcone said calmly. "Maybe we should talk about you... and Yukimura."

At the sound of her husband's—No, master's—name, she shot to her feet and drew out her daggers.

"Say his name again and I'll carve you like Brutus did Caesar," she hissed.

"You can _try_ to avoid this Makie, but you and Yukimura _can't_ avoid this—"

The Lizard stopped because she was trying to stuff her daggers down its scaly blue throat.

What the hell?

She found herself on her back, her limbs pinned. It had happened so fast that she didn't have one single clue as to what just happened.

She looked back at her own body. The alien woman was kneeling by her side, one knee pinning her right arm, an arm reaching over her body to lock her left arm, and the tail was immobilizing her legs. She found Resathel's heart-shaped violet pupils staring into her own.

"You can't hurt me," the alien said simply.

"Like hell I can," she ground out, fighting against Resathel's lock. She might as well have tried to kick that Nineball walker over.

"_Stop_," Resathel said evenly. "You know, trying to kill the person who mentions your husband's name is a sign that you need to at least talk with someone."

"How about _no_," she growled into this Lizardy pain's face.

Hell, what would this alien woman know about what she was going through? She and Adrian had probably just knocked each other up, and boom, instant romance. Yeah, a magical story where two dissimilar people bond. A little fairly-tale dream, that's all they had, while she and Yukimura had to deal with real serious problems.

"Yeah, talk to about love and gushy stuff and all that garbage. What would _you_ and your hubbie know about—"

A hand, the scales velvety and completely unlike lizards' skin, wrapped around her throat and lifted her into the air. She could barely breathe.

Resathel thrust her face into hers. Unless she was totally off, this Lizard was now pretty pissed.

"Do you know what troubles me and my husband have gone through?" Resathel asked, an edge in a voice that was an angry whisper. "We're not some alien dream couple who managed to hook up in a one night stand and motor on after that.

"The first time I set eyes on Zach, I tried to kill him!" Resathel continued coldly. "Yeah, I tried to slice his head clean off. Even after those little problems were resolved, I had to deal with an unwanted mind-meld we had gotten ourselves into. This problem was so bad I seriously entertained ideas of letting him get killed by the Quaadranytes. And, he later told me, he wanted _me_ to die, as well.

"And you know what else? I had to chafe against a young, beautiful _human_ girl—whom I'm a very close friend to now—for Zach's attentions, because, after all, he and I had more in common than I realized.

"We had to deal with our pasts, and the memories of past loves who, had died. We had to deal with honoring their memories by not getting involved with anyone else.

"When I was captured by the Quaadranytes—some old enemies—I was cloned and sent on a mission to kill my own husband! And, after that little debacle, Zachary and I infiltrated a Quaad research base to find that the original Resathel was there. I had to deal with killing the real Resathel because she had gone insane and wanted to kill both of us for him having slept with me.

"As if being a mere clone of an original wasn't bad enough, Zach and I grew very distant for those few months. He couldn't bear to be with me nor I him. Then, best of all, a Quaadranyte defector and a little 'mind test' of Zach's revealed to me that I was, in fact, the real Resathel.

"And all this is in addition to the heartbreaks, despairs, and troubles inherent in war. I lost my first lover when he engaged the Quaads in some bloodbath of a battle.

"So, excuse me if I take offense to you thinking our relationship has been nothing but a walk in the park."

Resathel dropped her.

The slowly darkening world seemed to blur for a moment, as if some dust storm had hampered her vision. Then she felt something drip off her chin, and she realized that she was crying. Her dilemma with Yukimura and the knowledge that people could be suffering as much as she was right now broke her heart.

A comforting arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Listen: I'm sorry that I was harsh about that. But I still think we need to talk."

"I... I... Fine, let's talk then," she relented.

The alien general nodded.

"Now, talk to me," Resathel said. "I've learned that people who are suffering need to be listened to, not talked to."

She didn't know how to start. Then she knew...

"When I showed up at Nobuyuki Sanada's door, I was pretty much some orphaned little girl who needed someone to take her in. To my luck, Lord Nobuyuki was a pretty nice guy, and took my young little heinie in. He had me trained as a ninja, and I, well, took the job.

"Of course, I got to meet Lord Nobuyuki's son, Yurimura. And, God..." she trailed off. Almost instantly, she had developed a crush on that young good-looking dude. Then, when her lord had told her that she was to become Yukimura's personal ninja, she suffered a heartbreak for the first time since her parents had died from pneumonia. There was no arguing with Lord Nobuyuki, so...

"I'm sorry," Resathel said quietly. It's hard to lose parents. And it's even harder to be denied someone."

She couldn't think of a response, so she continued with her little story. God, how it hurt...

"Well, I became the next best thing to Yukimura: a friend. We watched each other's backs... but I always wished for more. And then... I end up married to him living in New York. I... I... I'm a ninja, who should never get involved with her master, but I'm also Makie Omori Sanada, Yuki's wife... I don't know.

"Part of me wants to love Yukimura again, to get back what we lost... but another part of me, the ninja, wants to push him away, or to end the dishonor of sullying his honor by..."

She couldn't finish that sentence. It was too dangerous to think about.

She felt the arm leave her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" she asked cautiously.

"I'm done here. I can't help you any more."

"What do you mean 'I can't help you anymore'?"

"I can't... It's all up to you know, Makie. I listened, and you listened too, to the reasons you have.

"It's now your decision to make whether you become Makie Omori Sanada or Kunoichi."

And then the Arbalest was gone.

Behind her, another singularity laser bolt sped into space, and hundreds more nightmares died.

She looked at the bloody shuriken, and wondered...

* * *

Yue Ying decided that her husband was right: these people were very ingenious in getting around this "techno-block" that was inherent in these Sraida creatures.

Using some type of automated scouting robot, Colonel Ryan had given them a tour of the defenses.

Strung at about head height all across the mountain pass were monowires. The wires, made of an incredibly strong chain of molecules, were only one molecule thick, thus making an incredibly sharp string. A mere tap to the wire could mean a disembodied finger. Since the wires were not technologically utilized, they apparently affected the Sraida just fine.

The boulders she had seen _were_ rigged with explosives to drop, but in an odd way. If the boulders were propelled by explosive charges, they became too technological, and thus wouldn't effect the Sraida. However, if the "_dams_" holding the boulders back were broken, the Sraida were fair game.

Of course, the towers held bow-armed soldiers in powered armor—meaning said soldiers could launch their arrows three times the distance of a normal archer—and a couple of assorted siege weapons—trebuchets, catapults, ballistae, etc—were put near the guard towers, boulders and bolts stockpiled next to them.

The gigantic wall also sported similar defenses, with the addition of holes near the lower third of the wall where spears and pikes could be thrust through.

But it hadn't looked like enough.

She shook her head and gave a sigh. "I'm not sure, Liang," she said to her husband from atop the main wall. "We're talking about one hundred-fifty thousand... I wish we had more in the way of defenses."

Her husband answered in the same tone. "Yes, I know. But they are prepared as their resources allowed."

She grimaced. "How are you going to work around this?"

Liang shrugged. "I've been talking to Cordev, Vir'lok, and Ryan, and they all agree the only way we'll be able to prevent a catastrophic breach of the main wall is if we somehow pin them down in the canyons. If the Sraida are allowed to make an extended effort on that wall, they can breach it."

She nodded. Though the wall was as well armored as one of the UNT's spacegoing superdreadnoughts the Sraida's claws could still gouge through. It was terrifying.

"So," she inquired, "How are we going to pin said attackers?"

Liang gazed off into the east, towards the pass leading to the base, where the sun was setting behind the mountain pass. This odd world's spin was reversed, meaning that the sun rose in the west and set in the east.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a shaft of light one mile long erupted somewhere to the northeast. It was one of the Titan CAWs, either Nineball or Cobalt, firing off one singularity laser. Each Titan mounted two singularity lasers, and those had a range of something like five light-seconds, which was ridiculous. They released a massive amount of energy on impact, more than the average multimegaton bomb. However, the cannons needed something like twenty minutes of recharging before they could fire again. Each shaft of dazzling energy signified the death of several hundred Sraida.

Despite that, there was still too many...

"Anyway, same question, Liang."

Liang shook his head. "I'm not sure. I think we'll have to take them under constant fire if we hope to stymie them. I've requested that the greatest bulk of archers be placed near the mouth of the pass. If we can bottleneck them, we should be able to wear them down. Ammunition isn't a problem, but making sure the Sraida don't butcher the archers will be the issue. That's were your tactical expertise is needed. The colonels are nominally in control, but we'll be the ones really running this show."

"Because they don't have the experience we have."

"Exactly, my wife. These officers are accustomed, strategically and tactically, to modern warfare. We, on the other hand, are used to this type of battle. Though I'm still unsure of this engagement; there are far too many variables."

They stood silent for a few moments.

"If we manage to bar the Sraida, how _can_ we make them stay there? Archers can kill, but they can't hold."

"From what I've seen, the soldiers are being trained to fight in a Roman/Greek phalanx formation. The armored musculature of the armor these soldiers wear lets them carry a heavy twenty-foot pike, or a solid-metal tower shield and long sword. The plan is to plug the pass with those soldiers, and have the archers pound them from above. That_should_ suffice, but there is the problem."

"Which is the Sraida smashing right through the formation," she finished for her husband.

"Right. The numbers are simply astounding; the Sraida outnumber us fifteen-to-one _at the least_. That means each soldier has to _kill_, not maim, not wound, kill, _fifteen_ Sraida for us to hold."

"I don't suppose that's impossible. The mountain pass choke point and wall should give an advantage."

"I would think so. The pass gives a five-to-one advantage, at least, and the wall will make up for the remainder. If the wall is able to hold throughout the entire siege, that is."

"If not, what then?" she asked.

"If the wall is breached, the Sraida will gain a three-to-one advantage _over_ _us_, and it'll all over but he screaming," said her husband gravely.

Something about that last remark sent a shiver down her spine.

"And I'll be the one coordinating the minute defense details of this battle..." she whispered.

"I have every confidence in you, Ying," her husband said firmly. "You can do this... I know you can."

She nodded. Maybe it was time for her to lose her insecurity. If she kept doubting herself, it could mean the needless deaths of hundreds, or worse, defeat.

She moved closer to Liang and took his hand in hers. Their relationship wasn't the touchy-feely type, but she really wanted to just hold him now. Having the chance that you wouldn't be around in the next few days threw things into perspective quite shockingly.

She moved closer and wrapped an arm around his waist. Her husband responded by draping an arm over her shoulder.

"Gust front..." she murmured.

"Hmm?"

"Gust front. The strong winds before the storm."

Together, they watched the sun set.

* * *

"Are you serious?" Sun Shang Xiang asked her husband incredulously.

"Yep," he husband replied. "They really do have a swimming pool. It's located in the training area. Soldiers use it for exercise."

" Geez. Sounds nice. How big is it?"

"I don't know. Hey, PAD?" Bei tapped the little black box on his left wrist.

"There's no need to strike my casing, sir. I respond to verbal commands," chirped the electronic device.

She snorted at Bei's sheepish look. Trust the firefighter to bang things. She laughed again.

"Not everything's as rugged as your equipment, you toughy firefighter you," she teased.

Her husband rolled his eye, and asked the PAD how big the pool was.

"The swimming pool located in the training area of the base is seventy-five feet by forty feet. There are provisions for the pool to be divided into eight swimming lanes."

"Ooh, goody. Thanks, PAD," she said to the device.

"You're welcome."

"Okay," she said, eyeing her jean shorts and green tank top—what she wore when not in her battlefield clothing—"I'm going to take a swim. Come join me after a while."

"Are you sure?"

"Heck, yeah. Could you paw through the drawers and find my swim suit?"

Bei sighed and began to search for her suit. She stripped off her clothes and deposited them on the bed.

"Here it is..." Bei trailed off as he caught a glimpse of her bare form.

"Well...?" she cocked an eyebrow at her husband.

Her husband gave her a quick look-over, cleared his throat, and tossed her the...

"Hey! What's this?" she asked, looking over at the somewhat-skimpy red two-piece.

"Oh, your suit," Bei said, his voice even.

"I have a one-piece!"

"Well, I guess not now."

She made an exasperated sound. "Well, where is it? Okay, okay, funny joke. Hah hah. Now gimme my suit. This is too, uh, _little_."

Her husband shrugged. "I haven't the faintest idea where your suit is."

She narrowed her eyes and peered at her husband. She _maybe_would have believed him if hadn't have a crooked smile marring the innocent I-Have-No-Idea-What-Happened-Have-A-Nice-Day look.

"Liu Bei, I am _so_ going to get you for this."

Her husband said nothing.

She hurriedly slipped on the semi-bikini. Bei's eyes looked amused.

"Remember that, honey," she said as she slipped into her shorts.

"Oh, I won't, sweetie," replied Bei lightly.

Giving a sigh, she grabbed a towel, and stepped out the door. She made sure that the towel covered her upper torso.

She made her way through the meandering halls—how the heck could those UNT guys keep all this straight?—and entered the indoor swimming complex. It was a bit stuffy, but definitely not as bad as most of the pools she had gone too. There was technology for you... it kept indoor pools fresh and clean.

She noticed that some men—probably troopers—lounging on the deck chairs were scoping her out. And, geez, some of the alien soldiers were, too. She was _slighty_ relieved that some soldiers were distracted by other woman, alien or not.

Oh, God, she was so getting her husband.

She took a vacant deck chair and hurriedly deposited the towel and her jean shorts unto it. She swiftly and purposely stepped to the edge of the pool—she had picked a seat near the deep end—and dove in off the starting block, into the closest lane. She swore that she heard one of those soldier's whistle at her.

Horny bastards.

She continued through with momentum of her dive and began to swim laps. She stopped at the shallow end of the pool and spied several soldiers also swimming laps. And some had goggles. Maybe she could bum a pair off of one.

Or maybe not. The chlorine wasn't that bad. Heck, she couldn't even smell it or feel it on her eyeballs. Opening her eye underwater didn't hurt one eensy bit.

Which meant, of course that she wouldn't have to go near some troops to borrow some, and thus wouldn't have about two dozen eyes oggling her.

She sank below the water, kicked off the wall, and began to swim breaststroke.

Yeah, sure. _breast_stroke. Her whole life was turning into a joke.

She approached the deep end wall and clung to it. An individual medley would be nice.

She kicked off the wall, and dolphin kicked up to the surface. Her arms flexed, and she propelled herself with a brisk butterfly stroke. She completed one length, shifted to backstroke, then breaststroke at the other end, and finally freestyle to bring her to a finish.

As she shook some of her hair out of her face, she noticed that a black marine in a blue suit was leaning over the block.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Hey, I'm Staff Sergeant Lenny Crewfort. You're a fine swimmer, and heck, just plain fine too," said the soldier.

"Uh, thanks," she replied. "Um, anything else?"

"Well, yeah. Those dudes over there," Crewfort gestured to a group of assorted-species marines, two of whom were female, "don't think I can beat you, even though I'm from New Serra, and everyone knows that anyone from that planet is a damn fish. And, Jesus, I ain't losing to a damn chick. So, whaddya say? 200-yard IM?"

She looked Crewfort over. He was tall, and his arms were absolutely long. He would have an edge in backstroke and butterfly, maybe, but she could beat him with her breaststroke and freestyle. Hmm...

"Fine. Let's do this."

She climbed out of the water. She mounted the block, and noticed that Crewfort was leering at her.

"Hot damn, you're a fine piece. Okay, enough of that. Hey, Matt!" A stocky blond marine looked up and ambled over to the pool. "Take our times, willya?"

"Sure, Sarge." Matt spoke to his PAD, and looked up. "Okay, boss."

She took a deep breath, and released it. And had a thought.

Dammit, she would have to _bend_ _over_ to begin her start.

Oh, well.

"Take your marks... go!" shouted Matt.

As soon as "go" was out of his mouth, she leapt off the diving block and smoothly entered the water. She swung her arms out and in as she began with butterfly. Her mind solely concentrated on moving her limbs.

As the last lap of freestyle came up, she noticed that Crewfort wasn't in front of her. She touched the wall.

Some time later, Crewfort finished, too.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God..." muttered Matt.

"What?" asked the huffing Crewfort.

"Sarge... that chick just swam a 1:37:54 200-yard IM."

"Hell, no, that's impossible. You're pulling my leg."

"No."

She left the Matt guy and Crewfort to sort that out, and began to warm down.

Tired, tired, tired.

She stopped at the diving end, and noticed that her husband, fully dressed, was smiling at her. Crewfort and Matt were still arguing.

"Good swim, Shang. Best performance ever," he quipped, grinning.

She rolled her eyes, and submerged herself.

Bei extended a hand. She lifted an eyebrow, and took it. She noticed that his free hand was latched firmly to the starting block. Smart man.

He hauled her out of the water. As she dripped, Bei stood up from the block and looked into her eyes.

"Still mad at me?" her husband asked with a bit of apprehension.

Ooh, the million-dollar question.

"Nope. I wasn't really mad at you. Just a bit... annoyed."

"Ah, okay. Well, I hope... the, uh, suit wasn't..."

"It's okay, Bei. I need a laugh."

Suddenly, she beamed at him.

"Actually, I think it makes me look incredibly sexy. Don't you think so?"

Taken aback, her husband looked like he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Oh, you think so. Thanks! Lemme give you a hug!"

With that, she flew into Bei. She wrapped him up in her arms.

Bei smiled a bit nervously. "Uh... You're _not_ mad, right?"

"Oh, of course not," she said.

Then she pushed.

Bei gave a cry of surprise, and attempted to push back. Of course, it didn't work, since he was directly behind the block. The back of Bei's knees caught on the edge, and she and her husband tumbled in.

She surfaced, and giggled uncontrollably as a very wet Liu Bei broke the surface. Her husband took one look at her and gave an explosive sigh.

"Fine, fine, fine. Even?"

"Sure, sure," she managed to cough out in between laughs. "But you deserved that, you know."

"Sheesh. A man merely tries to flatter his wife, and he gets pushed—fully dressed—into a pool?"

They both laughed as they got out of the pool.

She toweled off, and offered the towel to Bei, who had stripped off his wet tee-shirt. He wiped his upper body off, and mussed his short black hair. He handed it back to her.

She and Bei made their way back to their room, making small talk.

When they were inside, Bei swept a hand towards the bathroom.

"Go ahead, take a shower. I'll go after you."

Here he was, in sopping wet clothing, while she was in a nearly dry swimsuit. That was why she really loved him. He was so thoughtful, so kind, so virtuous, so, so... _good_.

She turned on her heel and went into the bathroom. She twisted some knobs, and in a few seconds the sound of steaming water filled the room. She slipped out of her suit, and exited the steamy room. She spied Bei sitting on a towel on the bed, facing away from her.

"Hey," she said, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hmm?" Bei said, turning.

She swiftly stepped over and locked a hand onto his wet pants' waist.

"We're sharing the shower," she whispered huskily.

"You're not getting any argument from me," Bei replied.

Thirty very steamy—in both the literal and the figurative sense—minutes later, she and her husband got out of the shower. She and Bei toweled each other off—of course, laughing lightly as they brushed certain areas—and dressed.

Bei prepared the bed, and she and her husband flopped onto it. She squirmed a bit when Bei's hands played over her ribs.

Bei put his lips to her ear.

"I never got a chance to say it, Shang, but you look absolutely sexy with that suit on. Of course, nothing is best, but I don't ask for much."

She smiled into the darkness and snuggled up against her husband. It was those sweet things he did here and there that made so much of a difference... even if said sweet things had a tinge of testosterone in them. But, heck, men will be men, right?

And she had the best man in the world.

"Thank you, Bei," she whispered.

"You're welcome, love."

"Oh, yeah, sweetie."

Her hands ran over Bei's body, and she felt his stroking her sides.

"Swimmers and firefighters _do_ have plenty of endurance, you know," she said to her husband.

"Oh, yes," Bei murmured back.

Looks like one married couple wasn't getting any sleep.

* * *

Nouhime's eyes popped open at the sound of the alarms. She shot up just as Nobunaga jerked from his slumber.

"Aren't those the alarms signaling a planetary invasion?" she asked her husband apprehensively.

"I believe so. But it can't be right. Those monstrosities aren't due for another twenty-four hours..."

"You're right. But we should still get dressed and report to the command center."

Her husband just grunted.

She reached for her battleground outfit and slipped it on. It was almost identical to the clothes she had arrived with on this world, but with less restricting tailoring, and with the addition of some light armor plating and chain mail here and there. As she went out the door, she grabbed the PAD device and her blades. Nobunaga, squeezing into his leather—or "Kevflex," some new modern skintight armor—garb and cloak took a few moments longer. Her husband snatched up his dark-glowing sword, sheathed it, and left the room. She tapped the door control and shut the entrance.

She and her husband jogged all the way to the main command area. When she and Nobunaga entered, she noticed that the Chinese military advisers, Zhuge Liang and Yue Ying, were already there, along with Ryan, Vir'lok, Cordev, Ranix-Adrian, the auburn-furred, gray-eyed Gryth Mindlancer-equivalent Executor—General—Diakrestis Tan'aza, tall blonde Mindlancer General Lindsey Cameron, and, of course, General Adrian.

They all looked grave.

The officers were silent until all of the temporally-displaced warriors had entered the room.

"I don't know how they did it," Adrian said as he rubbed his eyes, as if he wanted some ugly picture to disappear.

"Did what?" one of the Chinese men—she thought his name was Zhou Yu—inquired.

"For starters, they somehow made a super-precise quantum-shift microjump, which basically dropped them on our heads, past the CAW anti-starship guns," said Adrian. "In addition, they somehow managed to ECM3 their ships—meaning that the "heavy transports" are all actually much more massive ships. Cobalt and Nineball are getting out of the dodge as fast as they can, but they think that destroyer-tonnage vessels were masked."

"Which means what?" she blurted out. As soon as it left her mouth, she knew it was a useless question... she knew what was coming.

"It means that the Sraida will be dropping no less than seven-hundred thousand warriors," responded Tan'aza.

There was utter silence.

"And the numbers can be much higher," said Ranix-Adrian. "Nineball and Cobalt will have harder times knocking them out of the sky. Besides that, the Sraida are steering out of the range of their weapons, but not so far as to give them the opportunity to take out the grounded ships. They're getting smart."

"Which means we'll have to implement our plans quite a bit earlier," finished Cameron.

Zhuge Liang stepped forward. "We'll be deploying now. The cloaked observer drones report that a probing swarm of eighteen-hundred Sraida are heading for this base. We'll have to hold them at the mouth of the canyon, so as to preserve the integrity of the wall.

The Chinese man nodded to his wife, who took a deep breath.

"Huo, Rong, Keiji, Okuni, Lord Bei, and Lady Shang Xiang will be leading the main phalanx force.

"Nagamasa and Oichi will be coordinating the archer contingent.

"Yukimura, Yu, Qiao, Nobunaga, and Noh, you'll be the quick reaction force.

"Kunoichi, you and your unit will be providing reconnaissance and tactical strikes."

She noticed that Yukimura shot the ninja a look before he turned away.

Ying continued to speak. "The units will deploy within an hour. We'll be sticking with our original plan; we need to immobilize the Sraida, and keep them from coming to grips with the archer units."

"And where will you and your husband be?" her husband whispered antagonistically.

She elbowed him hard in his stomach and grabbed his head, turning his ear to her mouth.

"Nobunaga, _enough_. Stop trying to make an enemy of everybody, or God help me, I'll never be able to deal with you _again_."

Her husband didn't say anything, but she noticed that his eyes narrowed a bit, though he wasn't looking at her.

Big deal. She and him had had their fair share of arguments and fights, and they where still alive and married. One more wouldn't hurt.

"Let's go," said Ying.

She and the fourteen others left the room to begin preparations. She noticed that Nobunaga was walking far more slowly than the rest. He reached out to her and grasped her shoulder.

"Look, Noh, I'm sorry. I guess I have to work to stop doing this."

She shook her head. "I know that you're that type of person by nature, Nobunaga, but yes, you do have to work against it."

He nodded.

"But there's one condition for me to accept your apology fully," she continued.

"Oh?"

"When you have a chance, I want you to apologize to Yukimura and his... wife."

Nobunaga glared at her.

"What? You're siding with—"

"I'm not 'siding' with them! I just see that you're being a total pain in the rear—yes, I meant that—and I'm trying to help you improve! Close that chasm you created between yourself and Yukimura."

Her husband looked full on angry now, but he seemed to deflate.

"You're right, Noh, I suppose. I have been very disagreeable as of late. I'm... I'm sorry about that. I'll do my best to fix this. But it's not easy for me."

She shook her head and stroked his bearded cheek.

"I know. Thank you, Nobunaga."

She drew him down, and kissed him deeply.

And then she and her husband left to prepare for the battle.


	6. Chapter 5: Siege

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Chapter 5: Siege

* * *

**

"Holy Lord in heaven," Nagamasa whispered as he spied the _wall_ of Sraida approaching, the rising western sun illuminating the... swarm. He lowered the electronic binoculars.

It was impossible. With his view, he couldn't see the end of the line of creatures. It had to be nearly two miles wide, and only the Almighty knew how deep. Apparently, the eighteen-hundred scout force had halted so a transport group could inflate their numbers into a veritable swarm.

"There has to be at least three hundred thousand in that mass," he wife said in the same horrified/disbelieving tone he had just spoken with.

Well, yeah. There was a goddamned flood of them.

"How are we going to hold _that_ back?" he gasped. "We were already iffy on one-fifty thousand Sraida... and now we have to take on three hundred-thousand?"

His wife looked like she was about to reply, but one of the armored UNT marines sidled up beside him.

"Sir, we have approximately forty minutes until the Sraida enter trebuchet and ballista range, and they'll enter catapult and longbow range nine and twelve minutes after that, respectively."

"Thank you, er..."

"Korkuv, sir. Staff Sergeant Jakobi Korkuv."

"Yeah, thanks, Sergeant."

"Sir," the sergeant said and moved away.

Time seemed to slow to crawl for a moment, then it sped up horrifyingly fast as the last few minutes dripped away.

"PAD? Give me a countdown."

"Yes, sir." A few minutes later, "Five... four... three... two... one... mark!"

"Open fire," Oichi said.

As if on cue, a flight of six-foot ballista bolts and boulders arched into the air, where they seemed to fly in slow motion towards the black mass of Sraida.

With the E-binocs, he watched as the ballista bolts, then the humongous boulders, impacted into the mass of Sraida. The tough chitin of the aliens might as well have been paper to the ballista arrows, and each of the plummeting rocks squashed dozens of the aliens.

It should have shocked the enemy into caution, but the Sraida moved as if nothing happened, even as the siege weapons opened ugly holes in their lines. Which was just plain disturbing.

He heard the sounds of soldiers reloading the low-tech artillery.

He waited for the last of the boulders to auger into the dust—or some of the Bugs—and then he called "Fire at will!"

Another wave, and then a third, a fourth, a _fifth_, barreled into the air. As the sixth wave of boulders—the ballistae had a higher rate of fire than the trebuchets—arched into the early morning sky, the catapults joined in, tossing special rocks that cracked into airborne shards upon impact.

Another catapult salvo. Then...

"Archers! Nock arrows!" he heard his wife pipe. Soldiers echeloned along the pass walls, at different height levels, reached for their projectiles.

The sound of ten hundred arrows being drawn and fitted reached his ears. Oichi looked into his eyes.

"Draw!" The sound of one thousand bowstrings being pulled.

"Aim!"

"_LOOSE_!" Oichi cried.

A swarm of arrows, thicker than the ballistae and trebuchets and catapults combined climbed into the air. One thousand yard-long arrows tipped with needle-sharp pile-heads reached their apogee and then began to fall gracefully towards the ground.

Then they fell into the swarm. The pile-heads, specifically meant to defeat their natural armor, penetrated them easily.

It looked like the Sraida were about to retreat, but that was only because so many died in that one volley. He looked into his E-binocs.

The Sraida were going down, but only when multiple arrows had penetrated them. A lucky shot to the heart or head killed them, sure, but this was far less effective than he had expected. Maybe 550 died in that one volley, a puny amount when compared to the size of the swarm.

But, of course, good archery units could pound out ten arrows a minute.

"Nock arrows! Draw! Aim! _Loose_!" Oichi yelled again, and whispering death blackened the sky.

Again the shower of yard-long shafts slammed into the Sraida, and hundreds of the creatures fell. But it just wasn't enough. The Sraida galloped past their dead comrades in their eagerness to close with the death-spewing archery unit up on the pass walls.

They were coming on too fast, and even the fast-firing bowmen weren't able to fight back the tide. It was like trying to fight back an avalanche with a firehose. Enough firehoses at key points _could_ hold it back.

But there weren't enough hoses to be had.

"Oichi, we need volley fire."

"Right. I'll coordinate the group on the left wall!" his wife called. "I'll use the zip line."

"Okay," he said to her. He used his headset to connect to the communications sets of the bowmen. "40th Archery Regiment, I'll be coordinating your fire. 17th, Oichi will be giving you your firing coordinates. Standby for transference of command."

He grinned a bit. Sure, he was used to fighting with swords and spears and arrows, but all he needed was a little adaptation to command a "modern" armed force.

Oichi hooked a special harness to the zip line, pushed off the ground, and reached the 17th on the other cliff wall. He double checked to make sure she was okay, then directed his gaze back to the charging swarm. The Sraida were incredibly fast, and could cover the distance between them and the phalanx units in about five minutes.

Five minutes wouldn't give him enough time to take them all out, but he could do plenty of damage.

"Regiment!" he called to his group of five hundred. "Nock arrows!"

* * *

"This looks very bad," Xiao Qiao said to her husband.

"Oh, yeah," Yu replied, not a hint of humor in his tone.

The longbows Nagamasa and Oichi commanded had decimated the Sraida, but the survivors still outnumbered the five thousand deployed UNT regulars and reaction forces by at least fifty-to-one.

At least they had gotten into formation in time. The first ranks of soldiers at the entrance of the mountain pass—a thankfully small two hundred yards wide—stood with their six-foot high, two-foot wide tower shields at the ready in one arm. Their light short swords hung sheathed from their sides. Another shielded rank stood behind them. Behind those twin 300-person rows stood the determined ranks of pikemen, holding their twenty-foot pikes at the ready, forming eight rows of pikemen. The other two-thousand soldiers were the rapid-reaction forces, wielding ten-foot glaives, two feet of which were taken up with recurved, wickedly sharp blades. Each of those troopers also carried a bandolier of ten light four-foot javelins and a broadsword with a yard-long blade.

The PCA-320s that the troops wore multiplied their strength by three and speed by one and a half, and the diasteel armoring was incredibly durable. But he wasn't too happy with the odds. If the Sraida could somehow flank them—fat chance, since there were damned big wall, but...—it could roll up the entire formation. That's why the reaction force of two thousand divided between herself, her husband, Yukimura, Noh, and Nobunaga existed: to make sure the Sraida couldn't make a successful maneuver Liang—or Ying, as she was the one in control of tactical maneuvers—didn't want.

But it still looked dismally bad.

Using E-binocs, he saw a cloud of dust barely obscuring the rapidly approaching Sraida. They would be upon them in no less than two five minutes.

Since her communications headset—which was helpfully coordinated by her PAD—was configured to the main tactical channel, she heard Liu Bei's voice echo in her ear.

"Shields up! Draw swords!"

She focused her gaze on the front ranks of soldiers, and she the soldiers heft their tower shields with their left arms and draw their short swords with their right. Metal glinted in the early morning sun.

Good thing the sun was in the Sraida's eyes, not theirs.

A minute passed, then "Pikes down! Prepare to receive the enemy!"

She gulped. The comforting hand of her husband squeezed her shoulder gently. She gripped his fingers for a moment. She checked herself over.

Yup, her fans were in perfect order, razor-sharp edges polished and exquisitely sharp. Geez, though, the new garb was taking some getting used to.

It was, well, a much better battlefield outfit than what she had arrived in. It was a reddish tan, fairly tough and light cloth covering the light but durable articulated plate she was wearing. The armoring stopped at her thighs, but a chain mail "skirt" protected her to the knees. Her forearms were also bare, but bands of light, strong-feeling metal were slapped her and there. A helmet of sorts, one that left the very crown of her head bear, topped her head.

Somehow, this armor scheme was both protective _and_ sexy at the same time.

And it looked like it was time to test it.

The Sraida closed with the sharp spikes that projected nearly twenty feet in front of the first rank of soldiers. The very front ranks had been devastated by the longbows of Oichi and Nagamasa, and holes kept appearing where arrow volleys, boulders, or ballista bolts fell.

Despite not being where the action was, she felt her skin crawl at the mass of gibbering, killer monstrosities.

Then, the Sraida slammed into the wall of needle-sharp spears.

And they didn't even seem to care.

Oh, they sort of did. Even the blood-crazy Sraida did not leap unto the spikes. But they did attempt to batter the pointed bits of metal away, to no effect. If the Sraida moved the wrong way, or missed the slap, a sharp bit of alloy went into their bodies without remorse. If the Sraida _did_ manage to avoid the needle-sharp pikes, the rows behind it were sure to spear it. Every here and there, one might make it to the shield wall, but the front-line soldiers chopped down the attacking creature.

But, already, some of the pikes had to temporarily withdraw as heavy bodies piled up like grisly kebobs on the shafts.

Longbow fire continuously devastated the creatures, but it wasn't doing enough. A tidal wave of dark gray, gibbering insects was only barely being contained by the pike regiments. It seemed like hours, but only twenty minutes passed as the Sraida expended their fury on the pikes and shields.

Well, the Sraida were pretty much stopped. Not many were being killed, sure, but the Sraida couldn't really go anywhere. They would just have to be held until the longbowmen and siege weapons shot them all down. Then the pikes would advance into—

Oh, no...

A single Sraida began to scale the wall, away from the deadly wall of pikes. Right towards the archers on the left wall. The pikes were in no position to reach it.

It only clambered for a moment, though, since a squad of bowmen shot it down.

Goody. Problem solved. If—

Her breath stuck in the throat.

A mob of the creatures began to monkey the dead Sraida's lead. Arrows poured onto them, but it seemed as if a tentacle from some ugly gray creature was reaching to pluck the archers from their stations. The archers at the lower levels were getting fidgety.

"Yu, we have to take them out."

"But we were expecting a break somewhere on the _ground_ level. We can't fit our entire force unto the bottom ledge!" Her husband shook his head."

"Maybe not..." she mused. Then, she had a thought. She keyed her headset to three of her 30-man platoons. "First, Second, and Third platoons!" she called. "Get ready to move out. We need to relieve the archers on the left wall!"

She was about to grasp the zipline that would take her to the lower-level archers, but her husband grasped her arm firmly.

"Qiao! Are you nuts? You have ninety people... that can't keep the Sraida out for long!"

"Yu, I'll be fine. Those archers—"

"The archers are doing fine. They just need to redirect their fire. Even if they can't they can escape the—" She saw Yu's eyes go wide as he trailed off. "No..."

"What?" she asked. He had obviously seen something she had missed. What? If the archers were swarmed under, it was only a small loss, though she hated to think that way. What—Oh, no.

Yu probably saw the understanding in her eyes. "Yeah. If the archers get taken out, the entire flank is open. Damn..."

Yu released her arm. He looked deep into her eyes. "Take care, okay. I don't want to... lose you."

She touched his cheek tenderly and tiptoed to give him a quick kiss. "I'll take care of myself," she told her husband.

She activated her headset comm again. "Platoons! Time to move!"

She grabbed the line, attached her harness to it, and slid down towards the archers. She looked to her sides and saw her platoons following her on different lines.

It was not a second too soon. The staff sergeant commanding the front most archer squad saluted. Her reflection showed in the blue visor.

"Ma'am! Thanks for the support!"

"Sergeant, get your squad outta here. We'll take the flank."

"Ma'am! On the move!" said the sergeant, who began to issue commands over the comm system. They beat it of there.

She opened a link to Oichi, who had command of the left wall battalion.

"Qiao to Oichi!"

"Yeah?"

"The Sraida are making a press on the 40th."

"Oh, yes. I saw. What do you have in mind?"

"Withdraw the, uh..." she blanked for a moment, "the archers of Bravo Company, 18th Battalion. We'll set up shop there on the lower tier."

"Okay. Just note that you won't have archer support until Bravo is relocated. The battalions are hard pressed to weaken the main Sraida body already, and we can't spare any arrows."

She took one look at the Sraida leaping up towards them, and gulped.

"I'll be fine. Just don't take too long, Oichi."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Qiao. And, as the cliché goes, give 'em hell."

She grinned. "The very best. Out."

She turned, and assessed the situation. This ledge was relatively small, no more than fifty feet wide. That would be an excellent tactical help, since the Sraida wouldn't be able to bring their superior numbers into play.

But, then again, the Sraida could just _climb_ up.

She ran a quick flash-status check for her three platoons. All lieutenants reported that everyone was accounted for.

"Second Platoon! Get up here. We'll have you as—" she stopped as a scrabbling sound reached her ears. A second later, a swarm of Sraida began to swarm towards them.

Oh, man.

"Platoon, javelin volley! NOW!"

The Sraida's front row flew back as four-foot spears impaled them.

But it wasn't too much an effect, as the following Sraida raced over the fallen bodies. But it gave them breathing room. She opened her blade-edged fans, and the troops readied their glaives.

Then...

She ducked under the leading Sraida's flailing claws and drew her fans up across the Sraida's torso, spilling its guts on the dusty ground. Her troops were using their glaives to great effect, threshing the two-foot blades back and forth, mowing down the overgrown bugs like wheat, but more and more came on, four arms flailing. The Sraida were strong, and a troop who let a Sraida into his blind spot, past his glaive, was killed before he could draw his sword. The diasteel armor wasn't enough against those terrible claws.

She batted another Sraida hand away, and used the momentum of her block to spin herself around and slash the creature across the waist. It dropped.

Another volley of javelins, and another, swept the Sraida away... for a moment.

The Sraida were becoming smarter, and were pressing her soldier's formation with renewed vigor. They were trying to exploit weaknesses, but she prevented any probe personally. Her armor was splattered with black.

A soldier to her left went down under two Sraida's windmilling quad of arms, and she had to deal with the duo. A slash to the neck, followed by stab into the other's face with a folded fan dropped the two aliens.

"Ahh!" she cried as a Sraida claw scored her bare arm. She caught the other arm with her fan and opened its body vertically with a lighting-fast slash. She checked her limb. It wasn't too bad... just a scratch.

"Damn," he hissed as another Sraida tried to take her. _She_ took _it_ instead, and it flew back without a head.

She saw more and more Sraida swarming.

"Oichi, I hope those archers are ready..." she muttered through gritted teeth.

* * *

"If the reaction forces can't handle those flanking probes, our phalanx plug won't mean spit," Huo said to his wife.

"Ooh, you have gift of understatement," Rong replied grimly.

Finding no reply, he just swallowed nervously.

With nothing else to do except sweat and wait, he popped his gauntlets off and cracked his knuckles. At the loud sound, his wife turned to look at him.

"Jesus Christ! Do you have to do that every other minute?" His wife demanded exasperatedly.

"Uh... I'm not doing it that often."

"Uhh. That's the fourth time in five minutes."

"It's not my fault that my limbs have the propensity to collect nitrogen gas bubbles," he protested.

Rong remained silent, until she snorted and burst out laughing.

"'Propensity to collect nitrogen gas bubbles'? That sounds like a lawyer speaking."

He puffed out his chest. "But did you ever see lawyer who could kick Stallone's butt?"

Rong laughed and slapped his shoulder affectionately. "Of course not. Besides, lawyers can't be both smart, large, and sexy like you."

He patted his chest. "I'll take that as my due, beautiful."

Rong just snorted again. "Watch it, big guy. I love you, sure, but don't push it." She winked to show she had been joking.

He grinned, but lost it when he saw the reaction forces. He keyed his headset to get Liu Bei.

"Bei here."

"It's Huo. I don't like how that flanking counter is going."

There was silence for a moment. "I don't like it either. I still think we can hold for a while longer, but it could change really quickly. We might have to get prepared for a retreat."

He cursed. "Gotcha, Bei. We'll hold."

"Okay. Bei, out." He turned to his wife.

"I don't look good. Liu Bei doesn't know how much longer we can hold out."

Rong shook her head. "I know. The frontline units have reported an average of twelve-percent losses. And that's with everything going more or less to the plan. We've barely taken out eight thousand of the creatures, most of the casualties resulting from the never-ending arrow volleys.

The screams and madness continued for another fifteen minutes. Still, from the reports coming in from the front-line soldiers, all was going okay.

Suddenly, he heard an urgent pinging in his headset. He toggled the communicator.

"Main forces!" came the urgent voice of Oichi Azai. "The right flank is about to be threatened.

The voice of Nobunaga Oda cut into the channel. "Qiao and Yu can't provide cover! If they shift, the left flank will collapse. Noh and I will handle the right. Hold on!"

He didn't like the sound of that. He looked up, and saw the battalions of reaction troops ziplining to the right tiers where the archers were making a run for it. As the first glaive-wielding reaction soldiers touched down, a knot of Sraida charged at the armor-encased soldiers. A storm of javelins stopped them. Then it closed to hand-to-hand range, and the soldiers thrashed the creatures. Safe up there.

"SIR!" screamed one of the frontline noncoms.

"What?" he answered.

"I don't know what the hell just happened! They're... Dammit! Watch out!" The communication descended into a chaos of cries and commands and sounds of clashing metal.

"Crap, crap, crap," he muttered like a litany. He needed to see what was happening. He had no idea what to do. God."

"Hey, Rong, something's up on the front lines. I don't know what to do. It's messy out there, that much I can hear."

Rong looked shocked for a moment, and then she turned to her PAD.

"Hey, PAD! Get me a good holographic image. Something from a frontliner. And, uh, feed it to Huo's PAD."

"Ma'am!" twittered the device, and a 3-D image blossomed two inches above his box.

It was literally a frontline soldier, holding a shield. It was form the point-of-view of the troop. As he watched, the Sraida backed away from the wall of pikes... seemingly impossible because of the sheer crush of the aliens. Then they charged.

Of course, he expected them to stop their full-speed dash before they encountered the needle-pointed spears. Then they would do their damnedest to get through. After all, they weren't stupid.

He watched, and waited for them to stop.

Nononono.

The front row of Sraida literally dove—violently—unto the pikes, jostling them out of the way by the pure weight of their numbers. As the dying Sraida writhed and spurted black goo, their followers charged the next rank of pikes. They had all just gone kamikaze on their butts. Oh, God.

"PAD! Pipe this to Liu Bei's PAD. This is _not_ good!."

He stared in horror at the image. The troops were frantically shaking off the piling bodies, but they weren't doing it fast enough. Not nearly fast enough. Here and there, a "clean" pike shoved through the pile of bodies, but it was immediately weighted down by suicidal aliens.

The soldiers maneuvered their weapons in a frenzy, the bodies coming closer and closer. In some places, corpses helped block the alien like grisly barriers.

And then, through the eyes of a soldier, he saw a Sraida slip past the encumbered pikes.

Right into the shield wall.

Instead of trying to get around the shield, the insectile alien charged straight into the tower shield. The soldier carrying was bowled over by the powerful bulk of the four-armed alien. The alien leapt off the dazed trooper and screeched in fury.

And then it fell, a shuriken dart suddenly appearing in its face.

Lucky, lucky. Thank God for ninjas.

He watched the soldier toss the alien off and get back into position.

...And get mobbed by ten other creatures.

The line was compromised. A moment later, the holographic image "tipped" over and faded into a fuzz of static.

"Bei! They've broken through the shield wall! We got to withdraw!"

A loud curse—completely out of character for that guy... which meant how badly this thing was going down the toilet—reverberated through the comm net. "Tell the rear two ranks to raise pikes and withdraw. All other ranks are to drop their spears and draw swords. Do it now!"

The transmission cut. Uh-oh.

He barked out orders, and he heard his wife mirror them. Troops smoothly lost their pikes and drew out their short swords. Seeing the troops getting pushed back by the horrendous aliens, he charged in. It was hard, yeah, since he didn't want to knock them over, but he managed to get to the front, Rong hot on his heels.

The first Sraida he saw, he grabbed in an iron-shod grip. He lifted the alien—it wasn't too heavy, considering his muscles—and flung it into a tangle of Sraida roaring for blood. A swipe of Rong's boomerang disemboweled several more of the aliens.

As the troops withdrew, he noticed that he, his wife, the two Maedas, and Liu Bei and Shang Xiang were on the front too.

Dammit, it was like fighting back a blasted _avalanche_. This was going to be as tough as hell...

* * *

It was rapidly turning into a rout. Oichi Azai shook her head and prepared to snap out orders. The only thing that kept the soldiers from getting literally swamped with Sraida was her and Masa's sustained arrow volleys.

But even that wasn't going to last for too much longer. Dammit, the reaction forces were getting hit hard, and she was too busy supporting the main phalanx to give the reaction forces anything but a platoon.

"Oichi! It's Nobunaga."

"Yeah?" she answered.

"You... you have to withdraw. We can't defend you much longer."

Ice filled her chest. "Brother... we can't! We're the only thing that's keeping the regulars from getting swarmed under! If we have to withdraw, we'll need at least ten minutes so we can get situated at our secondary firing locations."

She could swear she heard Nobunaga grind his teeth. "Oichi, I can give you and your husband five minutes before we begin _our_ withdrawal. We're dying out here."

The ice transformed into squirming bugs that migrated to her stomach. "Okay. We'll being pulling out now."

She shook her head, and set up a link with her husband.

"Masa! We can't—"

"Oichi, I heard," he interrupted. "Initiate contact-break. I'll follow. Hurry, honey."

Her throat dry, she answered, "I'll go, Masa. Be careful, sweetheart."

She tapped her PAD, ordering it to patch into the 17th's communication channel.

"Battalion! We're moving out. Execute, uh"—Oh, God, she was blanking. Oh, yeah, thank God—"Gamma-7. Repeat, execute Gamma-7!"

The archers of one company stowed their longbows and began to scramble back, heading for their designated guard towers up on the highest levels. Taking those towers would give the soldiers an excellent vantage view... and if things looked too hot—like right _now_, come to think of it—it would give them a way to get to other towers on lower levels with ziplines.

Her brother, Qiao, Yu, and Lady Noh were holding off the immediate Sraida waves... but only for a little bit.

"Troops! _Triple_-time it! The reaction forces can't hold out for long! Move!"

She was a bit happy to see that the soldiers were moving pretty darned fast, but thy weren't moving fast _enough_.

Which meant some potentially sticky problems.

A bleat sounded over her command channel. Grimacing, she noticed that her PAD was projecting a representation of a tangle of Sraida advancing on the front archery units.

She pushed past the ranks of soldiers, towards the lower tier's front row.

The aliens were almost there. Oh, great.

With a grunt, she kicked the kendama crystal forward, taking off a Sraida's head. As the body toppled, she jerked the sphere back, knocking a trio of Sraida off their digitigrade feet. As the ball swung back towards her, she whipped the ball in a smooth circle, breaking some skulls, snapping some spines.

A volley of arrows, and one more after that, silenced the survivors.

She opened her comm. "Yu, we took them out. Uh... we're fine."

"Great," said the unseen Chinese man hurriedly. "If you don't mind, some more Sraida need a good whacking..."

The comm popped off.

Well, at least that had gone okay.

A beep sounded in her headset. Ahh...

"Oichi here."

"Ma'am, we've finished relocating 16th and 31st Battlions. The 11th is right behind them. The battalion will complete its withdrawal in three more minutes.

She waited for her men to get into their secondary, and then she squirted a message to Nagamasa.

"Hey, Masa. We're out. Get moving!"

It took a second for him to answer. "Okay. Uh... we're having a bit of a problem over here. Hold up." The comm went silent for a good thirty seconds. "Okay, that's all good. We're moving."

"Okay." She thought. "Don't do anything stupidly heroic, Masa, or I will beat you senseless before I hug you. Out!"

Her husband laughed. "Sure, sure. Same goes for _you_ too, Oichi. Out here."

She snapped off the communications headset.

Someday, she and Masa were going to have a nice, quiet house out near a beach where they would have good jobs and a pair of kids.

Yeah, sure... in a million years.

"Archers, prepare to begin support fire!"

* * *

This was way bad.

Makie—or Kunoichi, since she couldn't decide which she should call herself by—knelt on an overhanging rock. The black mass of the bug-like aliens were slowly pushing back the UNT formations slowly and bloodily.

She shook her head.

With a burst of ninjitsu energy, she teleported, latching her left hand onto a projecting piece of rock. With her right, she dealt out a lightning fast volley of shurikens that buried themselves into throats, eyes, and brains. The squad of archers that had almost been butchered waved in random directions—since she was a ninja, and a damned good one at that; they couldn't quite locate her—and moved out of the area.

Goddamned Sraida.

She let go of her handhold and nimbly navigated to the lower level of the pass, drawing her daggers as she went.

Four Sraida were down by the time the others in the group knew they had been offed, but she had already gotten her butt out of there.

She was doing "tactical strikes," which meant she was supposed to screw with whatever the aliens had for minds.

She slipped onto another rock outcropping to watch the approaching carnage.

The Liu Bei guy was shifting the main phalanx force into a convex pattern, allowing the regulars a chance of safeguarding their rapidly-weakening flanks. If she could sow some more mayhem, it would let the troops withdraw more easily.

She took a quick peek over her shoulder. She had long ago lost her "team" faster than a beached jellyfish loses water. It hadn't been hard, really. The Arcone Arbalests were pretty good, with their invisibility and all, but they just weren't as good as her.

The bubble-like formation was nearing completion, and the rapid-reaction forces were beginning to pull away, taking shelter behind the sturdy shields of the regulars. Losses were still pretty bad, and more soldiers were falling by the minute, but it wasn't going to be the utter rout she had feared.

She was planning her next move when she saw a figure break past the rear ranks, alone. The person was heading at a dead run towards the main wall.

The bastard was abandoning the others.

He probably needed a good beating. Something that would make him turn around and fight. The little—

No!

She saw the figure clearly through the dust and sand. He was clad in red and black, and he wielded a spear whose blades formed a cross.

Yukimura was fleeing battle.

Hot, furious hate welled in her breast and warred with disgust and a sense of betrayal.

Kunoichi it was. To hell with Makie. Makie was just some stupid girl who had married a man who was a true coward at heart. She hoped that bastard never got within three planets of her again.

Still, there were Bugs to kill. After helping the poor soldiers in the regular formation, she was leaving this place... someplace far away from Yukimura.

To hell with Yukimura...

* * *

"Where the hell is he going?" Liu Bei muttered under his breath.

His PAD had told him that the young Yukimura Sanada had just bolted for the stronghold. Seeing no other explanation, he wrote the young warrior off as a coward. The Japanese warrior hadn't seemed like the type—far too honor-bound and valiant—but he guessed that overwhelming feelings for self-preservation arose in all types of people.

He had more important things to think about right now.

The main forces had gotten into a sturdy enough position, so he and his wife and friends didn't have to do a frontline action. The Sraida were savage fighters.

The main phalanx forces were withdrawing inch by bloodstained inch. The past hour or so had seen the regular army withdrawn to no more than five hundred yards from the main wall. Siege engines sent out deadly loads at the creatures, surrounded by arrows from garrison bowmen.

The fighting was getting harder. The four mile wide field wasn't funneling the Sraida at all, and the fast aliens were capitalizing on the open ground.

They were too fast.

Fortunately, the siege engines on the main wall was keeping this withdrawal from become a complete route.

But just barely.

In his headset, the voice of Zhuge Liang called.

"Lord Liu Bei, we're going to try to get the small entrances open, where you troops can funnel through. Have your soldiers surround the entrances and create a buffer zone."

"I'm on it," he replied to the master strategist. "Liang, could Ying provide tactical advising? This is her realm."

"If course, Lord," entered the voice of Yue Ying. "I suggest that you move the 23rd Battalion to a flank defense position on the southern entrances. The Sraida pouring in from the east are shifting that way."

"Thank you. Out here," he said hurriedly before belting out commands to the soldiers.

The 23rd made their transition, but the Sraida made a thrust to where the battalion had withdrawn. Luckily, a reaction force under Lady Noh was in he area, and the probe was repulsed.

Then, with a roar, a knot of Sraida broke through a barrier and charged into the ranks.

Cursing, he dashed forward before the troopers were forced to break formation. His sword flashed out, gutting a shrieking alien. Sensing another Sraida striking at his back, he spun, lashing out with his sword. His blade batted the razor-edged limb away, and he used the momentum of his spin to draw out the sword sheathed along his back. A deft movement had the Sraida stumbling, its guts pooling at its feet.

But there were more.

"_Shang_!" he called to his wife. "We need to clear those Sraida away!"

He and his wife locked eyes with each other knowingly. With a flick, Shang hurled her chakram at him as he hurled the sword held in his left hand at her.

He smiled as the deadly disc barreled towards his face.

A yard from his face, it deflected, and began to rotate around him like some chaotic satellite. Shang had gracefully caught his sword, her other chakram rotating around her body.

Then the chakrams ignited as his swords crackled with lightening.

As he leveled his sword with the one Shan was raising, he smiled grimly

An arc of psionically-induced electricity blazed through the air and connected the swords he and his wife wielded. With the blazing chakrams creating a dazzling shield around their bodies, he charged the Sraida with his wife.

It was impossible for the ferocious aliens to reach him through the barrier of steel and flame, and as he ran the crackling line of lighting blew apart aliens as their own superheated bodily fluids become their own explosives.

The deadly line of electricity utterly destroyed the assaulting Sraida in the vicinity.

As the last mutilated body fell to the ground, he saw his crackling sword fly high into the air towards him, rotating slowly. Smiling, he snatched the chakram out of the air and tossed it back to his wife, who stood several yards distant.

The perfectly thrown blade landed hilt-first in his hand. He smiled wider when he saw Shang balance the thrown chakram on her finger.

But then the moment passed as more Sraida roared and charged.

He and his wife charged back.

* * *

_And the fun don_'_t stop_... Keiji thought as a heavy swing from his spear's weighted end propelled a Sraida a good fifteen yards.

Okuni ducked under a Sraida's three-handed swipe. She retaliated with a fierce upward jab that crunched the Sraida's throat.

It dropped.

"This is getting intense, Keiji," his wife said in a tense tone.

"You're telling _me_," he grunted. "I'm down with fights, but this is nuts."

She just chuckled grimly.

The fighting was, thank God, slowly petering out as the soldiers withdrew into the walled stronghold. All the temporally displaced warriors and the rapid reaction forces were performing a rearguard action for the main forces.

And, goody goody, they had to rear-guard _themselves_.

A tangle of Sraida was darting around looking like it was feeling lucky.

Okuni apparently followed his eyes, since she said "Well, warriors first."

"Oh, yeah..." he grunted as he dodged his way through the UNT troopers. He could here Okuni's feet patter as she chased after him.

He grinned recklessly.

As he burst past the hard-pressed shield line, a Sraida swiveled a multi-eyed head to stare at him.

Until he walloped it off with a heavy swing of his spear. The other Sraida, probably thinking they would have easier sport with him than the troopers hiding behind the shields, turned for him. As the half dozen aliens converged on him, he lashed out with the blades, slicing through hard carapace as if it were nothing. The force of the impact sent the disemboweled creatures flying.

He turned to face another mob, but a flying umbrella bowled them over like ninepins. A good number of them had their spines snapped or skulls crushed.

That was his wife. What a woman.

More Sriada diverted from their path to the UNT line to come at him and his wife. Every single one of the bug bastards that got within claw ranged died.

"Keiji!" came a voice over his headset. It was that Liu Bei commander guy. "Begin withdrawal into the stronghold. Archers will provide cover! Move!"

He blinked and looked at his wife. While they had been busy, almost all of the UNT lines had retreated into the stonghold.

Talk about tunnel vision.

He felt a hand tugging on his sleeve.

"I think _now_ would be a good time to move, Keiji," Okuni said hurriedly.

He nodded. "You're right. Go... I'll hold 'em off till your safe inside."

"Oh, no you _won't_," his wife snapped. "We go _together_."

"Uh, yes honey," he replied distractedly as a Sraida claw descended towards his face. He caught the arm in the fork of his blades, and with a deft twist, snapped the limb clean off. Roaring in rage and pain, the insectoid attempted to spit him with its other three arms, but he rammed it with the blunt weight of his spear, propelling the alien away.

"Okay, I think we can go _now_," he huffed to his wife as he pulled her towards one of the minor gates.

"Geez. Finally, honey."


	7. Chapter 6: Breach

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Chapter 6: Breach**

* * *

Zhuge Liang didn't like how this was going. The wall, though completely sealed and manned, was under full assault now with the Sraida madly hacking away at the metal. Spears were being pushed through the special ports in the wall in an attempt to repel the attacking aliens, and arrows came in constant curtains from the top of the barrier. Now, he was more or less out of his depth. Yue Ying was the person who would win the day.

If all turned out well, that is.

The wall was one mad cacophony of clangs and sparks as alien claws met advanced alloy. For some unfathomable reason, he was feeling less and less comfortable with the barrier he was standing on.

The Sraida were taking obscene causalities as they tore at the wall, the original 350,000 had been reduced by over half that number. Thus, there were only (!) about 125,000 marching on the UNT wall.

Sighting a group of Sraida that were temporarily unopposed by UNT regulars, he allowed his internal energy to flow. Building up force in the palm of his hand, he projected a beam of brilliant pale-blue energy at the insectoid aliens. The pillar of psionic force exploded upon impact, showering the area with Sraida body parts.

"Thanks, sir," a soldier's voice crackled through his tactical headset. "That saved us a couple of arrows and a lot of trouble."

"No problem, soldier. Keep up the good work."

"Yessir. Out here."

Beside him, he could hear his wife hoarsely snapping commands out to UNT officers.

"Captain Jacobin! Shift your company south to cover ports A-33 to B-21

"Lieutenant Melendez, shift fire of your archers to cover coordinates 121-526-199."

There was very little he could help his wife with, barring reminding her of the strategic objectives and troubleshooting her commands.

And providing the occasional fire support call.

The Sraida had paid dearly for marching through the mountain pass. Harried every second by longbow archers, the Sraida had unknowingly walked into the monomolecular wires. The aliens were cut into neat pieces when they walked into the impossibly sharp wires, and the insectiods didn't even know why the ones in front were suddenly falling to pieces. Besides those, the explosive-triggered rockslides buried hundreds of Sraida under tons of unyielding stone.

But the archers had to escape as Sraida crawled towards them, and the boulders were limited. And even the ultra-sharp monowires snapped after enough "uses"...

He rained down another bolt of psionic fire onto the Sraida, slamming them away from the wall.

He felt eyes on him. He turned to Ying.

"Liang, I'm getting reports from the troops at the wall defense. Wall integrity is falling steadily, and we'll be breached by the end of this day."

He shook his head in frustration. "We just need to hold out until he's ready."

There was no need to clarify "he". He and his wife knew who "he" was. It was dangerous; he hoped the young man pulled through.

He gritted his teeth. Right now, the main strategic objective was _defense_, not defeating the aliens. There was virtually no way the UNT was going to best these hoards, excepting the aliens standing still and letting the UNT cut them down.

The again, there was so man God-be-damned _many_ of them that even _that_ would be long and strenuous.

It was simply a matter of time.

The Sraida were simply too numerous to hold by these means. It would have been all over but the screaming if the technological block was nonexistent. But, if the UNT was forced into using naked steel, the individual strength and the sheer numbers of the Sraida reduced the armored UNT troopers to a mere nuisance for the Sraida. Their training proved invaluable, but the UNT was simply not numerous enough. So, it was all a matter of keeping the Sraida occupied while the scientists completed the device.

Would they have enough time for the tachyon device to come online? Or would they all be dead before then?

He hoped to God that it was the former.

* * *

Time was running out. He hoped he would arrive in time. It would be another hour and a half before his forces circled around and cut through. God, let it be enough time...

* * *

"Pour more fire near the gates, Nagamasa!"

"On it!" he called back to Ying.

Nagamasa decided that he really, really hated these Sraida.

Hated them for killing worlds, hated them for killing the UNT troopers, hated them for having they're little "techo-block", hated them for being such a damned pain.

And hated them for nearly killing Oichi.

Okay, okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but she would have been seriously hurt if his longbow unit hadn't thinned out the ranks of Sraida galloping towards her.

And now, it was a "knife-fight", as the longbowmen liked to say. Meaning the Sraida were in their faces.

Well, not quite. There was still a gigantic wall to contend with.

"Battalion! Shift fire to coordinates 23-66-19, and fire at will." Approximately five hundred arrows streamed towards the section of wall where the Sraida were pounding away.

For a bare few seconds, the pounding stopped.

For a while, at least.

"Dammit," he mutter to himself. "When will these stupid _bugs_ know when they're beat?"

He shook his head. Rhetorical questions were going no where, fast.

"Battalion! Shift fire to twenty-four-dash-seventy-one-dash-two-niner!" he bawled. "Two volleys!"

A thousand arrows silenced the murderous aliens attacking the main door.

One hundred-twenty thousand more cried for blood.

"Oichi, where are gunning for?" he called over the comm

"The pocket near the southern door looks ugly. I can hit it from my position, but I can't reach the ones at 24-57-10. Ying needs those taken out!"

"All right. Out."

He snapped off the communicator.

He spied the Sraida hacking at the wall, oblivious to the death that rained on them. It seemed flat-out _impossible_ that aliens could _dig_ through an armored wall with nothing but their bear claws.

But the Sraida were doing it.

Damn them...

"Battalion! Shift—"

He stopped as a tremendous rumble shook the wall.

* * *

"Dear God..." whispered his wife.

Zhou Yu turned to watch Qiao gape as a section of wall _cracked_.

He gaped too. It was generally a _bad_ sign when a twelve foot _deep_ wall cracked.

Uh-oh.

The crack widened a bit and an arm was shoved through. Shaking his disbelief, he took it off with a single swipe of his long saber. There was an outraged screech.

Already frantic UNT troops rushed forwards and stabbed their pikes through the small crack, driving the aliens back.

He heard his wife frantically screaming into her headset.

"We have a breach at section twelve! Repeat: _we have a breach at section twelve_!"

Another arm was shoved through the break. With a cry, his wife rushed the limb, closed her metal-edged fan, and pinned the Sraida's arm, holding it still with her strength.

A well-aimed pike shot through the killed the arm's owner.

As Qiao withdrew her weapon from the limp arm, he nudged her.

"That bowflex wasn't useless, huh?"

Qiao grinned cheekily and nudged him back. She flexed her arm.

"Better believe it, handsome."

And then a _chunk_ of the wall broke off and squashed a squad of UNT soldiers.

Things were about to get worse...

He leapt back as a razor-tipped arm sought his neck. Whirling, he sent a bolt of flame into the creature's face. As the slain monster fell back, another rushed.

And another. And another. And six more.

A figure bounded up in front of him and opened two of the closest Sraida up from groin to throat.

Super-Qiao to the rescue...

His wife sinuously crouched to the left, and he whipped his blade at the Sraidas' next, walloping two heads clean off and fatally gashing another creature's throat.

His wife finished them off with a perfectly executed boomerang throw that battered the last four insectoids into space, their bodies not just propelled by the force of Qiao's attack, but also from the force of her psionic blast.

And then another crack appeared, fifty yards away.

And then another.

His eyes narrowed in a combination of fear and anger.

And then forty foot section of wall collapsed.

* * *

"We have a serious breach at sections 12 to 15! We need reinforcements!" Nouhime heard her husband frantically shout.

She ducked under the right-armed swipe of the Sraida, rolling and taking off the creature's arms with a swift hack of her wrist blades. As the creature, minus it right-side arms, stumbled past her, she buried her weapons into its back.

Instead of blood spurting out, though, dust billowed into the air.

The Sraida's wounds had been turned into dusty ruins from her dark power.

Nobunaga was battling as frantically as everyone else was, his glowing warsword imbued with dark powers that shattered anything it cut into dust.

Her husband generated a shadowy orb in his hand and flung it at a trio of Sraida, blowing them to infinity.

Another Sraida charged her, and she finished it with a contemptuous kick that snapped the back of its head into its back.

And still more Sraida poured in.

These hateful _things_!

A whistling warned her of another slash, and she windmilled her arms outward, deflecting the razor-edged claws. Spinning, she bent backwards at the waist, using one leg as a counterbalance, and impaled the Sraida's heart with her twin wrist weapons.

It dropped.

And four more tried for her.

And died as she whirled, her blades forming a tornado of steel.

Whispering death sounded close by, and Sraida dropped as needle-sharp pile heads sank through their armor.

Good to know that Oichi and Nagamasa were still doing their jobs.

Off in the distance she saw burning blades as Mindlancers, Arbalests, and Legions did their damnedest to take back their positions. But, of course, no one had to worry about them. The super-warriors knew how to take care of themselves.

"Platoons! Support position! Move!" came a gruff female voice.

She watched as a company's worth of UNt soldiers charged past, forming a wall of pikes and shields. The troopers seemed to be holding their own, the forest of pikes stabbing at any Sraida that dared advance.

And then it abruptly shattered as the speedy aliens outflanked the formation. Pikes were dropped as the soldiers drew their swords, and it was back down, again, to a wild close-range melee.

And the Sraida were good at close-range melees.

They were all going to die...

* * *

He could see the rear of the Sraida formation as it flexed into the holes that were appearing in the UNT wall. He raised his weapon, and the cavalry behind him slowed down to a halt.

No words of inspiration were needed. He and every cavalryman knew what their duty was.

"Lances down!" he cried, and spears lowered to a few degrees below horizontal.

"At a walk!" The cavalry moved forward at a powerful stride.

"At a trot!" Riders exhorted their mounts to move to a jog.

"_AT A_ _RUN_!" the cavalry commander roared.

And two thousand mounted warriors charged at the unprotected rear of the unknowing Sraida.


	8. Chapter 7: Reap the Whirlwind

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Chapter 7: Reap the Whirlwind**

* * *

Blood.

Screams.

Pain.

Clangs.

A Sraida.

Dammit.

Shang rolled away from seeking Sraida blades, swiping with her chakrams as she moved. No longer able to stand on one leg, the Sraida fell over and screeched until she stomped its throat.

She saw Bei take a bad swat to face.

That little...

With a cry, she hurled a bladed disc at the monster's face, nearly cleaving it in two.

Somehow the phrase "splitting headache" seemed way too overused.

And utterly, completely, irrefutably inappropriate for this fudged situation.

Any hope of forming the UNT troopers was shot to hell, and the archery and siege units were doing their all just to keep the Sraida from scaling the walls.

She dashed over to her husband, his right cheek oozing from three ugly cuts.

She dug out her chakram from the Sraida's ruined face, and tried to get a better look at Bei.

He waved her away. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

Oh, really. There were times for the tough-guy routine... and it wasn't now.

"You're _not_ okay," she hissed. "Hold still."

She tore a strip from her shorts—a patch that wasn't drenched in someone's blood—and pressed it to her husband's face.

"Keep it there until the bleeding slows. It's—"

"Only a temporary measure until the UNT medics see to me," Bei finished. "Gosh, sweetheart, you're lecturing a _firefighter_ on first aid?"

Despite the completely screwed up situation, she pouted playfully.

"Well, _someone_ has to do it," she declared.

Bei exaggerated a sigh. "Okay, okay, you win."

Her husband took the compress away. The bleeding was a little slower now. Would do for a while.

"Okay, let's do this," she said.

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than a Sraida leaped at her. There was a metallic _snick_ as one of Bei's swords took off its head.

She was going to thank him when more Sraida charged in.

"Bastard!" she hissed when she missed a block and a Sraida raked her shoulder. She punched her chakrams into its torso. She and the other ancient warriors were making the Sraida pay damn high in bodies to even scratch them, but this wasn't going to last very long. She was already nearing exhaustion, super-powers or no.

Too many UNT soldiers had fallen already... but what else could they do but fight. It was so... idiotic! All that she and the soldiers could do was hope the tachyon-displacer device was up and ready before they were all dead.

But that wasn't going to happen.

A volley of arrows knocked down four dozen Sraida, and she had some breathing room.

And then she felt the ground start to shake.

It was different from the incessant pounding of the Sraida feet. It was... deeper?

Then she recognized the sound, something from when she was, well, a Chinese warrior-chick.

Another Sraida tried for her, but she smiled as she took it out. Reinforcements had arrived.

* * *

"Not a moment too soon..." Yue Ying heard her husband whisper as a formation of two thousand cavalry charged down the mountain pass, ramming through the Sraida.

In the lead was a gray charger with red trappings. And seated on the saddle was a young Japanese man in red armor, wielding a cross-bladed spear.

Interesting, that some of the other warriors had thought Yukimura Sanada was running away.

The decision had been Liang's, with his almost eerie sense of foresight. Of course, that's why he was such a good strategist.

Not only had he seen the need of a cavalry unit, he had reformulated his plans on the fly, which wasn't a usual strategist characteristic.

Originally, the cavalry had been meant to engage the Sraida _after_ they had gotten through the wall in force, where the faster horses would be at an advantage. However, as was being painfully demonstrated, the Sraida probably weren't going to be spooked by a head-on charge. After all, a wall of spears hadn't even fazed them. And the Sraida could easily yank riders off of their horses. But a mounted attack from the rear...

Yukimura had been summoned from the front lines to lead the charge. If the history was right about the young man, he was an excellent tactician, and well-versed in light and heavy horse movements. It was a miracle in and of itself that they had arrived so soon after looping around the back entrance.

The cloaked observer drones were tracking the cavalry assault. The horsemen were rapidly closing in on the Sraida, and only now were the rearmost aliens noticing the oncoming tide of horse and man.

And spearheading the charge was Yukimura Sanada, a full ten yards in front of his command.

Snap out of it! They have to be warned.

She tapped her headset, opening an army-wide communications.

"All garrison units! Break contact and get away from the breaches! Repeat: Get away from the breaches!"

A chorus of acknowledgements sounded. A chime sounded. Her PAD told her it was Nobunaga.

"Why are we doing this? If we disengage, we're inviting them into the sortie field. They'll have too much room for them to maneuver. We'll be swarmed under!"

"It won't be us who'll be swarmed," she whispered into the receiver, and snapped it off.

There was a whine as her husband sent another bolt of psionic light on its way to explode on Sraida carapace.

"With luck, this won't end here," grunted Liang. He was getting tired from projecting his energy. It was a drain on the human body.

Super powered or not.

"I hope," she replied.

* * *

Yukimura Sanada charged the enemy, two thousand at his back.

The Sraida didn't really notice them until he was literally on top of them.

"_OVER_ _HERE_, _YOU ALIEN MONSTROSITIES_!" he roared as his horse jumped and crushed two slow Sraida beneath its hooves.

Makie... he hoped she was okay. God help the Sraida is she wasn't.

His powerful heavy charger plowed through the Sraida, knocking over the large aliens as if they were nothing. His cross spear flashed in the sun and three Sraida fell away dead.

And then the other members of the heavy cavalry arrived behind him, plowing the aliens under and cutting down those the horses didn't get.

He saw, out of the corner of his eye, the other cavalrymen draw level with him. Their lowered lances spit aliens, and when the weapon was snared, the long cavalry sabers lashed out.

But not him. He had been the best cavalryman in the Takeda army, so he damned well knew how to handle his spear correctly.

Dammit! There was no end to these things! All he could see was a solid sea of monstrous insectoids.

It was a strict no-no when engaged, but he took one hand from his spear and toggled his headset.

"Ying! This is Yukimura!" he yelled into his headset as he cut down the Sraida. Amazingly, the cavalry hadn't slowed its pace. He thanked God that the Sraida hadn't been as packed as they had been at the entrance of the pass. The moment his horses were forced to slow, they were in big trouble. Shock and mobility was the strength of cavalry, and one, really, came from the other. Once the horses were bogged down, all shock-value was gone.

And then it would be all over but the screaming.

_But too bad, you alien bastards_, _there won't be many human screams_.

"Ying here."

"What's the situation?"

There was a significant pause. "Pretty bad." _Dammit_. "We have three major breaches at the wall, and about a dozen small ones. We don't have much time. I've recalled the units away from the breach, and we have a _very_ large load of Sraida in the sortie field."

He cursed. "At our current rate, we'll be at the wall in fifteen minutes. Is that enough...?"

"I'd like half that, but that's not something you can give at this point." A crackling whine sounded in the background. Sounded like lightening. "We can hold for that long... but hurry. We're barely keeping our head above water as it is."

"Acknowledged," he replied as he swept the head off an alien. Wait, he had to know... "Ying, is everyone... accounted for?"

"Everyone's fine as of now, but—"

Oh, please don't say... "But what?" he interrupted.

"I haven't been able to establish contact with, er, Makie."

No!

"She was leading a tactical unit of Arcone Arbalests," he heard her pause a bit as she said the designation. Why would the Arcones name their super-warriors after a crossbow? "And she dropped from contact a few minutes after we recalled you." He dug the brains out of a Sraida skull with a quick stab. "The Arcones she was leading are completely puzzled."

"She was always a good ninja," he muttered as he speared another insectoid.

"Say again?"

"Never mind." A Sraida head flew. "Over and out."

"Out," Ying replied.

He really wanted to think right now. Why would Makie—or Kunoichi—run off like that? Maybe—

He grunted as a Sraida claw raked his shoulder. His armor stopped it, but it showed his lack of focus. This would get him killed! He had to push his wife out of his thoughts while he fought.

He was rapidly nearing the wall. In fact he could see—Jesus!—the large rents in the metal. The big holes were large enough to allow dozens of Sraida.

But now they were going to allow the cavalry.

"55th, take the left breach!" he called to his cavalry regiments. "61st, take the right! 50th, follow me down the center! Cold steel!"

A chorus of "Cold steel!" and acknowledgments reached his ears through the headset.

His charger was still plowing relentlessly through the alien bodies as his horsemen followed and dealt death.

And then he had a thought.

What if Makie was not just unaccounted for... but dead? God, no. She was good, but she wasn't invincible.

He snarled and pushed his horse harder.

He was almost to the wall, and he streaked down towards the center breach. Sraida scattered like leaves, and he knew they would be trampled or cut down by the following cavalrymen. This was flat-out insane! Two thousand mounted men were literally erasing fifty times their number! The narrow confines of the mountain pass allowed the riders to form a solid snake of cavalry that swept the insectoids under steel-shod hooves.

And then he and his men where at the wall.

The 50th followed him through the center breach, knocking back the Sraida. He could see that the cavalry weren't as densely packed as before, meaning they wouldn't have the slaughter that they had riding up to this place.

That was what the swing and second attack was for.

The UNT soldiers were using the reprieve to reform into their phalanxes. Good.

Breaking past the mob of Sraida that had gotten through—Good Lord, they had to number over seven thousand—he held his spear high over his head.

"All cavalry units, form up at the westernmost wall!" he ordered.

Despite not being brought up around this sort of thing, the cavalrymen actually did the maneuver correctly, wheeling around to meet up with his unit at the back of the sortie field. In a short few minutes, a wall of just under two thousand horses stood at his back.

Causalities had been obscenely light, but—damn—he'd lost at least thirty men.

But now the Sraida were going to lose the rest of their 300,000.

Whatever those things had for morale, it was now irrevocably and thoroughly shot to hell. Having the swiftly moving horsemen—

And then it hit him.

She had disappeared a few minutes after he was called back. He'd been told that the others hadn't been warned so that they wouldn't unconsciously reconfigure in preparation, and thus accidentally warn the Sraida.

In the middle of battle, he had run back towards the outpost at full speed.

As though he were running away...

It was like a wall of ice slammed into him. No, Makie, please, no. She had promised not to attempt anything against herself, but now, he wasn't sure. Him looking like a coward might have snapped her desire to keep on living.

With a roar of rage, he channeled his psionic energy into his arms. The triple blades of his spear burst into dazzling flames. A few nearby horses nickered.

Horses didn't like fire...

...and now the Sraida were for sure going to hate it.

"Lower lances, and _CHARGE_!" he roared as he spurred his horse forward.

Makie...

* * *

It had been... pure nuts. Zhu Rong shook her head and continued wrapping a dressing around her husband's thigh. They'd traded the barbarian-garb for some really spiffy unpowered armor, but the Sraida had rammed its claws into Huo's leg, causing a nasty slash.

The battle had turned bloody as soon as the Yukimura person led that mad charge.

Bloody for the overgrown roaches, that is. The column of horsemen had charged down the throats of the Sraida, and then "broken and engaged" in a really weird melee that was almost too fast-moving for the ground-pounders to comprehend completely.

Whatever the details were, the Sraida head been all put down, but at a horrible price.

Two thousand UNT troopers were dead outright, and at least double that were critically wounded. That left only four thousand, mostly archers and rear-rank soldiers. The cavalry was still intact, but it had lost a quarter of its men.

She frowned and looked for the Japanese leader. There he was, by the wall. He was sitting with his back to the metal, and he looked extremely... disheartened? Grieved?

"That Yukimura don't look so good," said Huo from behind her.

"Yeah. I wonder if it's because that ninja girl went missing?"

"Hmm," murmured her husband. "If anything, I think that'd be it."

She just shook her head. Poor guy.

A chime sounded in her headset. She toggled it on.

"All UNT soldiers," ground out the tired voice of General Adrian. "We managed to whack the Sraida first wave, and I'm proud of everyone here. What we managed to do was nothing short of miraculous.

"Unfortunately," the general continued after a pause, "this galaxy seems to not like miracle-workers, which proves the universe blows a long fat one." Adrian took a deep breath. "The remainder of the initial Sraida assault force is making a charge at us. We have about thirty-six hours before they make contact," another pause, "drones estimate the force to be in excess of four hundred kay."

Oh Jesus Lord. _Three_ hundred-thousand had almost killed them all... and that was with prepared defenses and fresh troopers.

"Zhuge Liang, Yue Ying, and the high command agree that the best option now is a diversionary open field engagement. We'll take it to them, and hopefully they'll be distracted enough to steer clear of the research facility.

"All soldiers with experiences in riding, meet up with the cavalry commanders. All others, we're going the mechanized infantry route. APCs and ranger hoverscouts are on standby. We'll try to hit them hard enough so that the Bugs become disorganized. Be prepared to sally at 0800 tomorrow."

The comm snapped off.

She shook her head and polished off her boomerang with a rag. The blades were extremely sticky with whatever the Sraida used for blood. So, the boomerang would be nice and shiny just to be covered with alien muck again. And then they were going to die. For sure. There was literally no chance.

"Four hundred kay," she muttered quietly.

"Crap," Huo muttered.

"Oh, yeah."

* * *

"Keiji..." Okuni pleaded with her husband. After some hours of barely-revitalizing sleep, it was nearly time

"Sweetey... I have to. Matsukaze doesn't like other people much." Keiji's personal horse had been also been "rescued" and had been kept cooped up in the UNT stables. The horse handlers had nicknamed her husband's horse "Kamikaze."

"But..." she trailed off, knowing that she didn't have much of a chance of swerving Keiji.

Her husband reached out and gathered her up in his arms. She felt his face on her hair.

For all his gruff competitiveness, he was quite gentle with her.

She felt tears build and run down Keiji's chest. He was leading the charge with the other warriors. It was just her luck that she had never learned how to ride a horse. Even Oichi had learned it from Nagamasa when they had been in the "right" time. Her? She had been too busy dancing.

And, for once, Keiji wasn't too hot to do battle. The Sraida had the tendency to do that.

"Honey, it's duty. This is our last ditch to give the scientists more time."

"I know, Keiji. It's just that... I don't know. I don't want you to..." She couldn't say it.

"Well, I promise I'll do my absolute best not to, 'kay?"

She giggled a bit. Nothing kept a good Keiji down...

Then, a thought.

"Keiji?"

"Hmm?"

"How strong is Matsukaze?"

She felt Keiji's eyebrow arch. "Plenty strong? Why?"

"Could he take two people?"

"Sure. He could—" a pause. "Hey, good idea.

She grinned into his chest. "Of course, you can steer him. Everyone knows Asian women can't drive."

Keiji let out a braying laugh. "Good one! Of course, you ain't half as bad a driver as I am."

"That's because you drive a cop cruiser!"

She shook her head and laughed with her husband.

Then a chime sounded from her PAD, telling her that it was time to mount up.

"I love you, Keiji."

"And I sure as hell love you Okuni."

And then she and Keiji walked over to Matsukaze.

* * *

The horse wasn't half bad, really. It was just the entire situation was down the toilet. Qiao adjusted herself again as the column of horsemen charged along.

"Yu?" she said to her husband as he barreled along to her left.

"Yes?"

"Do you think this'll work?"

"I hope to God it does," he replied.

She didn't say anything in reply.

At the front of the column was Yukimura, Keiji—with Okuni behind him—Bei, and Shang. There were exactly 2,173 horse-riding soldiers, gleaned from all the UNT survivors who could ride. The remaining soldiers were going to follow in transports and deploy on the field.

She could see the opening to the mountain pass ahead.

"We sowed the thunder, and now it's time to reap the whirlwind," Yu said suddenly.

"What?"

"Nothing much. Just a thought. We started this as soon as Yukimura began his charge."

"And now we reap what we sowed," she finished the metaphor.

Her husband didn't say anything. Then...

"Qiao?" she heard Yu ask.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She choked. That was it. One final profession... and then there would be nothing.

"I love you too. I'll see you where ever we end up."

Silence, except for the pounding of hooves.

* * *

The sheer mass of creatures nearly shocked him off the horse. Nobunaga couldn't believe it.

The first rabble had been bad. This was much, much worse.

He had this really strong desire to hug Noh right now, but he suppressed it. Distractions were bad at this juncture.

He saw Yukimura raise his spear high into the air. The Sanada wasn't an impossible character to deal with, and he supposed her could try and concede to his wife's wishes.

The cross-bladed spear waved forward. As the saying went, it was now showtime.

Pure. Utterly. Completely. Nuts.

Yep, those were the words. Huo spurred his horse one. It was a pretty strong critter, what with taking his bulk. Now it was time to test this horse's brawn.

Time to get all bloody again. Damn Sraida.

* * *

"We have to cut in at an oblique approach," Shang heard Yukimura say.

"I know. We want to hit them hard enough to chase us, but not deep enough so that they can wheel in on us," her husband said back.

"Whatever it is, this is gonna suck," she said. "At least we'll have plenty of Sraida to keep us company."

"No joke," Bei muttered. "I can't see and end to them." No need to clarify on "them."

The seething mass of Sraida was fast approaching. Yukimura suddenly slanted to the right, towards the north. He was going to try and hit a corner of the Sraida mob, right?

Yep.

A few more seconds...

Dammit! The Sraida were wheeling around faster than anyone had expected. Oichi hoped that the Sraida would have second thoughts.

She looked over at her husband. Masa's face was frozen in a grim frown. She was probably sharing his facial expression.

She clutched her kendama and prepared to swing it in bone-shattering arcs...

...And then she and the vanguard slammed into the Sraida horde.

No! They were moving to envelop them!

* * *

Kunoichi sat on a dune watching the obscenely numerous Sraida tromping their way towards the UNT place. She had been giving them plenty of pain though, darting in and taking a dozen of the overgrown bugs every half hour or so. She had probably caused quite a delay with the buggy freaks.

She was out of shuriken, though, so she would have to visit some bodies and get them. Oh well. Story of her life. Always making bad decisions.

Most significantly with _him_. She still couldn't quite get her head around how much she loathed him.

Then she saw the column of cavalry exit the mountain pass. Weird. She'd thought they would be holed up in that stronghold.

Maybe they wanted to get some back from the Sraida.

Whatever the reason, she could see what the cavalry was trying to do. Yuk—that _bastard_, not "Yukimura"—had explained advanced cavalry tactics to her once. What the commander was trying to do was shave off a "corner" from the Sraida force, and force the aliens to pursue.

Damn! The Sraida were reacting too fast. The targeted section was already ballooning like a pimple on overload.

She saw a flash of red in the lead. Hmm... It hadn't looked like the Zhou Yu guy was much of a rider. What was he doing leading the charge?

Oh, geez. Whoever the leader was, he had just broken from the main column and was heading _deeper_ into the Sraida horde. Whoever it was, he was some fearless hardcore rider, distracting the Sraida so the column could successfully complete the maneuver. That guy was dead for sure. It was kind of sad, though. He should—

Dear God, no. It couldn't be.

She saw the cross-bladed spear raise high into the air and burst into fire.

She knew only one person who could do that. Only one person she knew was a rider and a cross-spear wielder.

Yukimura.

Nonononono.

He hadn't been running _away_ at the initial defense. She had seen the tail of a cavalry column entering the pass yesterday. It had to be Yukimura in the lead...

Tears blurred her vision. How could she be so damned stupid? Yukimura would _never_ run away from a battle like she though he had.

And she had _left_ him. Yuki loved her... and she had thrown it away because she had been too selfish. All Kunoichi, no Makie.

And Yukimura was going to die alone.

She was going to ditch Kunoichi and take up Makie Omori Sanada again... but that was for later. She couldn't let go yet.

Not with Yukimura looking death in the face like that.

Dammit, he _wasn't_ going to die. Not if she something to say.

She yanked her daggers from her belt and charged of at full speed towards the lone figure. One order of ninja-girl, with a side order ofvengeful daggers, coming right up.

Yuki...

* * *

Damn him if he was letting that brave Yukimura die alone. Zhou Yu directed his horse towards the figure of Yukimura. The Japanese man was on foot. Probably the sheer mass of insectoids had just dragged down his horse. His long saber flashed, its length engulfed in fire.

And then he was flying. Dammit. A Sraida must've hamstringed his horse.

"YU!" he heard Qiao screech. He was going to tell her not to help, but he was really too busy now.

Well, he did have enough time to cock an eyebrow as the other warriors, including the Mindlancers, Legions, and Arbalests, charged in and were all forcibly dismounted. Looks like the Sraida _could_ learn new tricks.

And, Jesus, what a melee. The cavalry was probably tangling with the aliens right now.

Well, might as well die with piles of bodies flung around. Ha ha.

* * *

It was her dream all over again. Yukimura was slashing away with a spear that had blades forming a cross shape. Keiji batted away foes with his fork-bladed spear, covering Okuni, who was using an Eastern-style umbrella to knock back enemies. Bei, in green armor, kept the enemy at bay with twin swords as he fought back to back with Shang. Qiao and Oichi also fought back to back, their weapons flashing with force and lightening. Nagamasa and Yu were whirling in dances of death. Rong wielded her boomerang and Huo battered enemies with his gloves and body.

Liang was there too, driving back mobs of Sraida with his fan and blasts of energy from his bare hands. Her scythe-spear chopped through enemies bloodily. It was utter madness. She wasn't even thinking anymore, just reacting.

Something was wrong though. The ninja girl wasn't here...

She lashed out with the spear again.

But more and more Sraida came, and her strength—and probably everyone else's too—was waning.

It couldn't end like this...!

And then she felt the hair standing up on the back of her neck.

She looked behind her, and saw some type of glow surround Yukimura.


	9. Chapter 8: Embers Rekindled

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Chapter 8: Embers Rekindled**

* * *

The energy building up in his body... what the hell was it? 

It was hard to describe, really. It felt like... _lightening_ was bouncing through his veins. As more and more Sraida charged and died by his cross-spear, the aliens seemed to be getting slower and slower.

What in the world?

And then suddenly, it happened.

* * *

"Musou!" Nagamasa Azai breathed. "My God!" 

The glow that had slowly been creeping up Yukimura's body exploded outward in a sheet of coherent energy, smacking into the Sraida and—as it should—only the Sraida. The insectoids in the immediate vicinity of the red-clad warrior washed away like cardboard before an honest-to-God blowtorch. Jesus, he had never seen a Musou attack this powerful!

And, better yet, it wasn't showing signs of slowing down.

Yukimura was, quite literally, a blur. Damn, he couldn't even make out Yukimura's _weapon_ amid all the motion.

Uh-oh.

He ducked under a Sraida claw and, with a twist, opened the overgrown ant from hip to shoulder. Black muck and innards plopped out.

"Duck!" he heard his wife yell, and he did so, feeling something rush over his head.

He chanced a look, and saw the kendama crystal batter away a duo of Sraida.

"Thanks, honey!" he called.

"No problem!" Oichi replied.

He lashed out with the butt of his spear, stunning a group of Sraida barreling towards him. With a grunt, he reversed his grip and swept out their legs from under them. A whirl finished the whole bunch of them off.

And then something slammed into his back... hard. His spear flew from his grasp.

Dammit.

Luckily, he managed to twist around and grab the two reaching arms before they poked out his face. He hit the ground on his back, the Sraida on top.

Really, lucky break, that. By some fluke, _this_ Sraida was missing its lower arms. It was going to be a bit easier.

Sure, a bit easier in the same way one hundred-thousand less than 400,000 was a _little_ easier.

He had the claws arrested, but the thing kept trying to dig its mouth, tentacles and all, into his face.

"You ugly sonuva—" he spat, and kicked. The alien rolled to the right, and he was up in a flash. Before the monster could get back to its own feet, he crushed its throat with a boot. He dove at his spear and retrieved it.

God, even with Yukimura doing his Dragonball Z routine out there, it was simply hopeless. There were just _too damn many_!

Another tangle of four-armed creatures confronted him. He clenched his fists. Surrounded.

It was actually stupid in this situation, but he took a quick glance around. Nope, no help coming. He was the only non-Sraida thing in the immediate area. The glowing form of Yukimura was off about a hundred yards to his left. No help there.

The Sraida charged, and he moved his spear to intercept them.

"Well, at least I won't ever have to worry about those friggin' college tuitions again," he growled.

* * *

_It was impossible_! Yukimura thought. The mob of aliens were simply too many. 

Not in his case, of course. As he whirled and attacked in his Musou form, the Sraida seemed to be moving through molasses. He was, literally, in no danger from them.

The same couldn't be said for everyone else. He was doing his best to keep them at bay, but there was too many of them. The Mindlancers, Legions, and Arbalests were far from the other warriors, but they seemed powerful enough to not need his help. He just concentrated on the fourteen other warriors.

He saw Nobunaga swarmed under by a gang of aliens, before they were tossed off by a shadowy shockwave from the Demon Lord's body. Nobunaga looked a bit bloody.

Understatement, of course.

It gave him an idea.

There was really nothing left for him to lose. Makie was gone, so what reason did he have to go on living? He had the power—it was most emphatically there, all right—and its strength raged through his body.

With a cry, he slammed his spear into the ground, burying it halfway into the sandy soil.

And then he concentrated his energy. He manipulated his power, moved different aspects of it from here to there, added more strength to different areas. He focused it between his two palms, and it formed as a foot-wide sun of crackling fire. He caressed it with his hands, forming it, shaping it. He poured _everything_, including his rapidly dwindling lifeforce, into the energy sphere.

It was actually taking his strength to keep it from expanding, now. It was almost ready.

He directed his mind to Makie once more. The beautiful young woman was never going to be a part of his life again. He wanted to feel her touch one last time, but it was a bygone wish.

Makie, I love you.

And then he released the energy in a ravening tsunami of force that would engulf the entire swarm.

* * *

_The form of Yukimura was the nexus of a massive sphere of energy that washed over the land and into the heavens. It was howling with mind-numbing speed over the Sraida, and it rose into the sky, past even the few clouds. And it didn't show any signs of stopping, either. Faster than even light, it wouldn't stop until touched every living Sraida in the galaxy.

* * *

_

A light-year or so away, on a different world, a Gryth officer watched at the Sraida charged at his dwindling supply of troops. He growled a sad growl. It would be over soon. His wife would be safe though, with the time he and his forces had bought for the colonists.

And then, suddenly, a young soldier called into his comm set.

"Assault Commander!" cried the voice of a young female.

"What?"

"You're not going to believe this...!"

* * *

"That's impossible!" Claw Feliki-Tarvo-Zin exclaimed. The images being fed to her holoscreen had to be impossible. 

"Ma'am, I think it's completely possible. We have affirming reports from scattered units all over the battlefront," replied a minor-officer.

She swallowed her disbelief.

"Yes," she replied after a pause. "Yol, connect me to High Clawmaster—" she trailed off for a second. "Cancel that. Open up a Priority One communiqué to the Emperor!"

* * *

Sergeant First Class Robert Flanning just couldn't believe his bad luck. It wasn't bad enough that the Sraida thought his galaxy was a nice place to throw a party at, but _nooooo_, the mother-buggering Sraida just had to be sooo frigging smart. 

He and about seventy-five troop transports were moving in to support the charge spearheaded by the ancient-warrior people. But, guess what, about a thousand Sraida had tunneled under the armor column's path.

Now, it was just a goddamned melee. The Ranger he had been riding on had been directly on top of a trio of Bugs when they popped out, and it had turned over, depositing his butt on the floor along with the four other passengers.

And, yeah, they were all going to friggin' die.

And then... Boom! Something like an honest-to-God nuclear explosion washed over the area, covering everyone in fire. He was knocked to the ground, and he blacked out for a moment.

When he was all nice and conscious again, he noticed that the Sraida had picked that perfect moment to come back from la-la land, too. And, geez, he was unarmed. His sword had been ripped away by the blast of whatever-the-hell-it-was. And, of course, with the luck everyone person was feeling right now, the blast hadn't done a single damned thing to the Sraida except piss them off more.

Wait! The Ranger mounted a heavy M-20a 12.7mm autoblaster on the back on a coaxial mount. He could rip it off and use it as a really weird-shaped club. Not the thing he'd like, but it was all the chance he'd get since this whole world got flushed down the toilet.

He bounded over to the Ranger—damn, it was almost bent in frigging _two_!—and grasped his diasteel-shod fingers around the mount of the blaster.

He shifted his fingers for a better grip, and he felt his finger accidentally squeeze the spade-grip's trigger. The reliable autoblaster spat out a bolt of red energy.

Really, he shouldn't look, since it was drilled into everyone's head that modern weapons didn't mean spit to the Sraida, but he took a peek anyway.

So did every living organism in the immediate area.

Everyone—and every_thing_—was staring at a particularly large Sraida as it stared at the burnt edges to a fist-sized blaster wound.

It fell over, twitched once, and stopped moving.

What the fu—

"_WE HAVE FIRE RELEASE_! _WE HAVE FIRE RELEASE_!" he heard a captain scream through the comm. "_THEY WORK_! _MODERN WEAPONS WORK_!"

Maybe luck could change.

"Uh-oh," he whispered to the shocked aliens. They probably didn't hear him, but screw them. "It looks like you just got served."

He aimed the M-20a at the nearest group of Sraida and squeezed the firing stud.

* * *

"Infantry Suits, armor, and aerial elements have been mobilized!" boomed the voice of CAW-19999 Nineball over the contingent-wide comm. "All units, hunker down and prepare for artillery! All units, hold what you have! Heavy fire is _incoming_!" 

"Time to get some of our own back, boys," General Adrian said as a grim smile crept up his face. "Give 'em hell, marines!"

* * *

The moment the shockwave from the glowing Yukimura had touched him, Bei had _felt it_. He felt Musou psionic energy course through his body. And he felt everyone else's energy reach peak levels.

And then, on some unconscious cue, he released the dam and felt the psionic power engulf him.

He saw the motionless body of Yukimura become the next target of the Sraida.

Not if he and everyone else had something to say about it.

His twin swords flashed in the noontime sun, lightening crackling back and forth between the blades.

He was vaguely aware of electricity arcing, fire raging, ice immobilizing, blast propelling, death pulverizing, emanating from the weapons of the other warriors as they thrashed the Sraida. He, and everyone else too, were literally untouchable by the aliens.

He charged at a group of insectoids who were moving far too slowly, and killed them with some skillful slashes.

And, just then, he heard explosions thunder some distance away. The UNT soldiers, back in their role as "modern" marines, were now sweeping the aliens away with the broom of modern technology.

But, damn, there were still plenty to go around. Yukimura had made a sacrifice to pull this off, and there was _no_ way he was letting his body be desecrated.

* * *

YUKIMURA! NOOOOO! 

She had been too late. Makie sank to her knees beside Yuki's still form, staring at the man she loved.

The man she had given up loving because she had been so goddamned _stupid_!

Now, it was too late. Yukimura was gone forever... and she had only herself to blame.

What happened? Her vision had just gone all cloudy. What—

Then she felt the water slash unto Yukimura's armor, past her hand.

Of course she was crying.

Damn Sraida.

She wasn't used to this. She wasn't used to the rage warring with grief. It was, well, something new. She never really had something sufficiently traumatic in her life—save Lord Shingen getting assassinated—and, despite all the crap that occurred, she never really let herself become immersed in anger.

But, guess what? There was a first time for everything.

She drew out her daggers from her belt, and ignited her own Musou energies.

Her rage had a target.


	10. Chapter 9: Phoenix

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Chapter 9: Phoenix**

* * *

It had been... total slaughter. Liang sat down on the ground, exhausted. The Musou energy had left him already.

As soon as the Sraida had been cleared away from the immediate area—which had been incredibly fast in their Musou modes—the energy had left them.

Or, not left them. The energy had compacted and was again stored in their bodies, waiting to be unleashed.

He watched the rest of the battle.

Hovering tanks, hulking armored suits, armored troopers with imposing weapons, all destroyed the now-outpowered aliens.

And when the Titans were deployed from their underground holding cells, it was over horrifyingly quick. Bars of white fire stretched from cannon muzzles to explosions instantly. He supposed he understood the physics. The CAWs were firing at fractions-of-light-speed velocities, which wasn't perceptible as motion to the human eye. The white actinic fire was air molecules being torn apart by the impossibly fast ultravelocity projectiles. The streamer of white fire _and_ explosion from the slug's impact materialized instantaneously.

But that was done already. The UNT Marines had declared it a secured area, and hunter-killer teams were engaging the other landers and assault forces.

The world had been saved, but at a high cost. Yukimura was dead, as were over five thousand UNT men and women.

He heard boots crunching over dust, and he saw his wife sit down, cross-legged, beside him. She was just as bloodstained as he was, but she wasn't hurt badly. Scratches here and there, but nothing the modern medical technology couldn't handle, no?

He saw Ying shake her head sadly. "I wish we could do something for Makie."

He nodded wordlessly. The poor young woman was cradling Yukimura's still form to her, utterly distraught.

"What pain she's feeling right now," his wife murmured. "God, I can almost feel it."

"Me too," he agreed. "If anyone, _He_ shouldn't have died. He was brave almost beyond belief..."

"And his fearlessness killed him," Ying spat bitterly. "It's good that the techo-block if neutralized. At least no more are going to die from those horrible creatures."

"And it took Yukimura to do it... his psionic force and his life force."

It had taken the ultimate sacrifice, to knock the Sraida out of sync and empower them... with... their...

"I have an idea," he whispered more to himself than to Ying.

"What?"

He looked at his wife. "Yukimura gave us his power to jump-start our own Musous, right?"

"Right, but then..." Ying trailed off. "Yes, of course!"

He nodded eagerly and ordered his PAD to connect to the thirteen other warriors.

"Everyone! Meet me by Yukimura!"

* * *

"It might work," her husband said after listening for a bit.

Nouhime was a bit surprised. For the first time, he wasn't showing outright hostility towards the Sanada warrior.

"I need everyone to cooperate in this... if even one person does not willingly give back energy, it will mean nothing."

She noticed that a few of the others were looking quit pointedly at Nobunaga.

There was an awkward silence, and then her husband stood straighter.

"He and I will always have our differences. In many cases, we will argue quite passionately about things.

"But that does not mean I cannot respect one who—literally—saved a universe. I will partake in this procedure."

Perhaps her husband could change, for the better.

* * *

Nothing... Nothing had happened.

They had all stood over her husband's body and allowed some power to flash from their bodies into Yuki's. She'd even had a go herself.

But it hadn't worked. He hadn't even stirred in her arms.

The Liang man looked dejected. She wondered if he had attempted this whole thing just to make her feel better. Who cared? It hadn't done a single damned thing.

They had walked away after nothing seemed forthcoming. Considerate of them, leaving her to grieve. They all seemed sad, even Nobunaga.

And that was the part that was way too much for her to get her head around.

They had all looked up to Yukimura in one way or another... except herself. Yuki's own _wife_ wasn't even there for him when he needed her the most.

Oh, Yuki.

Yuki looked so peaceful, as if he was resting after a hard days work.

Except this rest was eternal.

She thought about her daggers for a moment. It would take a quick slash across her throat, and the pain would be over, and she would be with him again.

Dammit, no. Yukimura had died to save _everyone_, including _her_. It would be like spitting on his body to do that.

She stroked his dirt-streaked cheek tenderly.

"Yuki, I'm sorry for everything," she whispered. "I know you've loved me, and I knew I loved you. I was just too damn selfish to allow it." She sniffed. "I guess that's what fate is, huh? I guess this just had to happen." She stopped for a moment. Even when he was dead, Yuki was still one handsome dude.

God, she loved him so much.

She felt more tears well up, and she bent down to lay her cheek against Yuki's.

* * *

_The power absorbed by Yukimura's will, given to him by others, coursed and flowed, folded and rearranged, expanded and grew, forming a gateway. The soul of Yukimura saw two lights. One leading towards a bloody, painful battlefield, another towards a gleaming paradise of eternity._

_Yukimura was torn. He had nothing left to return to. His wife was gone, and he had nothing else to do. The battle was done, and his warrior spirit needed nothing more._

_But then, Yukimura heard some words echoing from the battlefield gateway. It sounded like... impossible._

_But his senses were not deceiving him._

_"_Yukimura_..."

* * *

_

"...I love you."

Makie knew her crying was done. No more water to let out, after all.

She would wait here until the UNT medics took him away. Yuki deserved this from her.

She felt something flick her forehead.

Anger blazed. Already whatever this place had for bugs were going for him. But she couldn't do anything against flies. She took her face from his too brush away over whatever had landed there.

"Kunoichi?" a broken voice rasped.

What...?

Yuki's eyes looked crusty, and they looked like they were fighting to stay open. But they were open, and dead men didn't open their eyes!

"YUKI!" she screeched, hugging him close.

"Hey... Kunoichi," her husband croaked haltingly.

She hadn't thought she was capable of crying anymore. She was—she didn't like the pun, but it seemed somehow appropriate—dead wrong. Tears of joy streamed down her face.

She sobbed. "Yuki... I'm not _her_ anymore. I'm Makie."

She heard her husband say "Just... Makie? Why not... Kunoichi?"

Sheshould have been mad... but not now. "No. I can't both be the female ninja and your wife at the same time? Kunoichi's going to need to go."

"Reh... really? Who... said that?" rasped Yuki.

"I guess you could say someone who knows hearts."

"But I guess... _you_ don't"

"What do you mean?"

Yuki shifted a bit, and she moved to support his head.

"What's the... biggest difference... between Makie and... Kunoichi?"

What kind of question was that?

She was about to say something, but Yuki continued. "Makie and Kunoichi both... have psionic powers. Both are witty and uh... upbeat. Both are incredibly beautiful. But... one can... love me... and the other... can't."

She understood. It hit her.

Makie were at the same time unbelievably similar and irreconcilably different. The difference—God, the biggest difference—was that Kunoichi couldn't love Yukimura, and Makie could.

But, in all other respects, Makie wasn't one iota different.

_That_'_s_ what had been meant. _That_'_s_ why she would have to choose. Makie... or Kunoichi.

Yes, definitely Makie.

And her choice wouldn't cost her the identity that Yukimura loved so much.

Letting her grip slacken a bit, but not the tears, she looked at Yukimura's face. He looked unbelievably tired

"Oh, my God. How are you feeling?"

"I feel like damp cardboard that's been... trampled by a herd of Sraida." A smile. "But I'm alive, and... that's a great... feeling. But it's nowhere... near as good... as feeling your touch again. I love you."

Well, she simply broke down after that.

It looked like everything was going to be all right.


	11. Epilogue: Eternal Warriors

**_ETERNAL WARRIORS_**

By

Gregory P. Wong

* * *

**Epilogue: Eternal Warriors**

**

* * *

**

The last year and a half following the last Sraida defense had been, well, good.

Meng Huo really liked the modern amenities that came with a nice house. Especially if said house was "modern", which meant friggin' awesome.

He sank down on a nice comfy couch and just thought for a bit.

This was a really cool house.

And, incredibly, he still had a job. Sure, there were a quite a few bozos who used "nanobots" and "sculpting retroviruses" to get a nice cut body, but there were an equal number of people who—like him—got their large collections of hard protein from lifting and exercising.

And, being as big as he was—his biceps were still larger than most people's thighs—he was elected as the prime candidate to manage weight training gym. Sure, he had had to figure out what the hell "force-field adjustable counterweights" were, but it hadn't been too much of a sweat.

The United Nations of Terra government had graciously thanked him, his wife, and the fourteen others in quite a few ways. One, of course, was a sum of money which was frankly obscene. And, they had a beautiful world to live on.

It was a fun life and all, though he still had to learn a lot before he got around this new universe smoothly. Who would've known that fusion was considered an outdated power source?

The gym was doing pretty well, too. He got plenty of customers, and that Keiji Maeda guy was there almost every other day. He was still beating the Japanese man, but only barely. A young brown Gryth he and Rong had befriended, Raastu was his name, was going pretty hot, too. Gryth, being pretty muscular racially, were into this sort of stuff.

He stretched to get up when he heard the front door slide open.

* * *

"Hey, honey," Huo said to Rong as she stepped in and clunked her briefcase on the hallway floor. Most of the other lawyers used their personal computers for this stuff—PADs were military issue—but Rong just liked the feel of real paper and a leather briefcase. 

"Hey, sweety," she replied. "Getting lazy again?"

"Heck, yeah! I get a free day after working, and I'm using it to smooze," her husband said with a laugh as he enveloped her in those absolutely huge arms. "Well, how was work?"

"Fine, I guess," she said, more or less truthfully. "But, geez, even after eighteen months I'm still a bit off. I've never heard of the Maritime Article IX, Subheading 3 before today."

Huo released her and wagged his hands as if he was warding off something. "Whoa there. I'm not a lawyer, so don't torture me with those things. Tell you what, you debate the Article thingamajig, and I'll take a nap." Huo walked back to the living room, opaqued the selective-lighting viewing ports, and flopped down on the couch.

She smiled. She entered their bedroom hung up her business attire—some things didn't change—and got into her house clothes.

She padded back to the living room and looked from behind the couch at her husband.

"Being lazy on a free day looks like fun," she noted.

"Better believe it—Oof!"

She had levered her body over the couch unto Huo's muscled abdomen.

"Well, I'm free for an hour before we start making dinner," she said, and kissed him. She lowered her voice suggestively, "Let's see if I can work that laziness out of you."

"Be perfectly happy to," she heard Huo say. "But, no lawyering, 'kay?"

"Wouldn't dream of it. Let's see if those muscles are good for something, eh?"

* * *

"You're kidding, right?" Okuni heard Keiji ask her. 

"Nope. She said 'mama' while you were away."

"Cool. Let's see if her vocabulary expands."

She giggled and snuggled up to Keiji. He and she were sitting in one of the public parks on this fine summer day letting their daughter wander a bit. Families, human and not, were enjoying the nice day.

The focus of the discussion, their little daughter Allison, gurgled happily as she crawled along the grass. Her husband scratched his hair. He tended to do that after she had cajoled him into getting it cut. Or, in his words, "mutilated."

"Let's hope the next word is 'da-da.'"

"Well, say da-da enough times around her, and I guess it'll happen," she laughed.

She'd taken up dancing again, forming her own troupe. It was a spectacular hit all over this world, and on quite a few others too. Kabuki hadn't been around for a little while, and it was coming back with a vengeance. Actually, she and her group had a tour over on the Arcone homeworld next week.

Well, the timing was perfect. She hadn't been able to do any dancing while she was pregnant with Alli, so it was great that Alli was out and old enough to travel, too.

"Keiji?"

"Yeah?"

* * *

"You going to follow me around again when we embark?" Okuni asked him. 

"Do you really need an answer, sweetheart?"

Well, policing and stuff was a bit different form the early twenty-first century. He'd dropped off any career in modern law enforcement and done personal protection.

As Okuni's bodyguard, he followed her everywhere. And he was protective too. As his charge _and_ his wife, Okuni came first. And since he was so damed intimidating, nothing bad had hapened.

Okay, a bit of an exaggeration. There'd been only one incident, and the slightly drunk individual had been waved off after seeing a slightly mad bodyguard.

"Of course not," his wife said simply, smiling.

He grinned and rubbed a hand through his hair and took a pointed glance at his wife. It was really a compromise. He liked it as it was, Okuni thought he would look great without any of it.

He'd said he wasn't no Buddhist monk, and the hair was there to stay. Okuni had retorted that his hair currently looked more wild than the jungle that grew on this world's other continent.

So, like a good spousies, it had turned into a compromise. He still kept the dyed hair, but now it was significantly shorter. He could live with it. When a son came along—which, at the rate he and Okuni were, uh, _going_, wouldn't take too long—he'd make sure the kid tried his wild-hair thing out, and that would be that.

"Keiji, it's really cute, you with short hair."

He shrugged. "Well, at least I _kept_ the hair.

He felt Okuni punch him playfully along the shoulder. "Oh, not that again."

"Well," he puffed out his chest, "one of these days I'll just let it grow out again. And then—uh-oh, I'd better get our little traveler."

Alli had just wandered a little too far. He heaved himself off the grass. Maybe she modeled that wandering spirit after her daddy. Oh, well.

He ambled over and plucked up little Allison. Cute kid, but that's what you got when Okuni was mommy.

"Da-da?" Alli cooed as he picked her up.

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Kid, you must be psychic."

His daughter just replied by giggling. He nuzzled Alli with his nose and took her back to where Okuni was sitting.

He looked down at his wife. "Well, at least I got second place!"

* * *

"How 'bout putting the buttress over _there_, and letting the stone columns take the weight?" Zhou Yu said to his wife. 

He and Qiao were laboring over this really nifty program he'd cooked up. Though he'd had to get adjusted and all to the new computing powers of the current century, code was still basically the same. It was actually quite cool that the holograph projectors were so clear, and that Qiao, Ms. Architect, could manipulate the onscreen shapes with her hand.

Yup, twenty-first century building styles were coming back, courtesy of his wife.

"Well, that could work, if we reinforced the columns with diasteel rods. Wait! Maybe we could flange the buttresses! It'll take some of the stress off the central core."

Uh-oh, she was going into build-the-huge-Leggo-building again. What the hell were flanged buttresses?

He shook his head in what he hoped was bewilderment. "Qiao, I just thought it would be nice looking if you did that. I'm still puzzled by all those architecture terms."

His wife rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever am I going to do with you?"

"Lock me up with some architecture books and throw away the key?"

He watched her shake her head. "No way! I like you too much for that."

"Oh, really?"

"You betcha," His wife mock-sniggered as she moved her finger to move the appropriate buttress to a new location.

And then an error message popped up.

* * *

"Ah, man. It looks like I missed that little command line. Give me a sec," Qiao husband said as he tapped a little icon on the hologram display, displaying a gajillion-and-one numbers. Ah, the world of the computer dork. 

Well, not a dork, but Yu always called himself that.

"Let's see. Oh, here it is. The binary switch I forgot to delete, and it's doing a domino effect on the..." Yu tapped some number lines "algorithm and gravitation equation codes. That should do it."

Of course, she had no clue as to what he was saying. But whatever.

A few more taps, and it was back to the 3-D building program.

And then her stomach rumbled.

"Hungry?" Yu asked her.

"A little. Some crackers?"

"No problem. Be right back."

Her husband got up, kissed her on the cheek, and walked to the kitchen.

She patted her stomach, which was just beginning to bulge a bit. A little boy was on the way, and thanks to this modern medtech, she didn't have to worry about things like morning sickness. She still got hungry as heck, though.

Yu got back with the crackers. She munched a couple as she zipped her finger along the building representation.

And, lo and behold, another error.

She looked at Yu sideways. Her husband just shrugged.

"Well, it looks like I have some cleaning up to do. I'll fix it up, and you just sit back and relax. I think we're done for today, anyway. Masa and Oichi will be meeting us by the beach, in... what? Three hours. Go ahead and take a nap."

"Nah. I'll stay here and watch you. I might learn something."

Her husband gave a smile. "Well, first thing to know is that the Meyer's code over here..."

* * *

"No, no, no, no. We need to pack the charcoal, too," Oichi said to her husband. 

"Old fashioned barbeque, eh?" Masa noted.

"Of course. No plasma torches, no sirree."

Masa just grinned roguishly.

Masa, she, Qiao, Yu, and a bunch of mutual friends were off to Aubrin's Beach—their front yard, really—a really nice area that was perfect in this weather. A nice little get-together.

"How about swimsuits?"

She pouted. "I can still fit into my normal one, can't I?

Well, that dream of having a nice peaceful life at a beachside home hadn't been a million years away. Well, the children were still coming, but that was far less than her initial estimate. Child Numero Uno was due in about eight months. So, she still fit into her normal suit. Qiao was a bit farther along, though.

She hoped that, if it was a boy, it would look like Masa. He was still handsome, and the scars didn't look out of place one single bit."

Masa looked up and down. "I guess so. You don't, er, _feel_ any different, so I, uh, think you haven't grown too much.

She placed her fist on her hips. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing," Masa said in a little voice.

* * *

Phew. Safe. Oichi wouldn't be calling him a— 

"You walking testosterone package," Oichi said, and giggled. "You looked so guilty when you said that, you know? 'Feel different,' ha!"

He just shrugged. And smiled, of course.

He bent down, picked up the jumbo shrimp that were going to be sacrificed to the Barbeque God, and put them in the cooler. The device would keep it cold in there with a laser-induced cold-ion slurry.

This was a great life. Since he and Oichi didn't want to learn all the stuff that was taken for granted here, they just forgot about college. They had a ridiculous amount of money, so he and Oichi just decided to buy a nice home and spend the rest of their days surfing, swimming, snorkeling, and whatever.

"Hmm... Should we bring along some steaks, too?" he wondered aloud.

"Sure. Not everyone's a fish-eater like we are," he heard his wife reply.

"'Kay," he said, and placed the meat into the cooler, too. Then he had a thought. "What about that salsa you made?"

* * *

"I think it was just simply a blast that Yukimura somehow knew how to focus. That's the only probable explanation I can come up with," Zhuge Liang said to the holographic representation of General Adrian and about ten other officers. 

He'd take up the job of being a psionic-theorist, which was a perfect fit for him. The way Yukimura Sanada had managed to nullify the Sraida techno-block was still a mystery, however. The current theory was that the Japanese man had released enough energy of the correct frequency to neutralize the energy the Sraida had been drawing from their own universe. While it was believed that the Sraida _were_ extradimensional beings, it was still unproven. Indeed, the whole investigation was rife with question-begging and unanswered questions.

Maybe it would never be fully understood.

"Okay, then, Mr. Zhuge," said Adrian. "I'm sorry to bother you, but the R&D department needed your input. I'll leave you to your down time. Have a good day."

"You too, General," he replied and shut off the display. He turned to his wife. "Now, where were we?"

* * *

"It's your move," she said to Liang. 

Her husband just nodded and peered at the Trichess board.

It was the current board game of the time... even though it wasn't on a board. The display was eight by eight by three, and it more or less followed standard chess rules. She and Liang had taken to it quite fast. It involved quite a few more pieces, however, and some pieces were modified. A pawn could jump from plane to plane, but a knight couldn't until its fifth move.

She knew this scene was familiar, with she and her husband playing chess while the sun shined. But the shadow of the Sraida was gone. The completed tachyon device collapsing the warp gate had seen to that.

She swept her bishop from the bottom plane and transferred it to the middle, capturing a pawn in the process. Liang captured it in turn with a knight, and she swept in with her queen—which had been on the third tier—and put Liang into checkmate.

Her husband nodded. "Excellent game."

She smiled. "Thank you. One more? Normal chess this time?"

Liang nodded. "Yes, of course."

She tapped a few buttons on the mobile hologram generator, and set up the board.

"Your move," she said, and smiled.

* * *

It was getting late, but she was enjoying the food and the company. 

Noh sipped the wine, which was made from some exotic berry she couldn't pronounce the name of, and savored it as it slid down. This was a bit of a high-class restaurant, and the food and drink was simply astounding.

She looked over at Nobunaga. He fit the model of a CEO perfectly. In fact, he was the chief of her own clothing line. And, ever since they had been transported to the "future," he'd kept the hair out of that silly old-style bob. It had been quite impressive, that year and a half ago, to see him with his mane of black hair blowing in the wind.

Her husband also had changed inside. He was more... what? Optimistic? Sanguine?

She had been a demon's wife, but she would like being a Nobunaga's wife, wouldn't she?

Whatever it was she was going to describe him as, it was definitely better.

It was a step in a positive direction, for sure.

* * *

With her makeup and perfectly tailored gown, he really couldn't see any reason why she _wouldn_'_t_ resume being a fashion model. 

And being a clothing designer, as well. Noh was going to probably give up the walkway in a few years, though. It didn't matter though. The line of traditional Japanese garb was popular among the younger generation, and was sure to remain so even when Noh retired.

Somehow, the word "retired" didn't seem right. To him, "retired" meant being too old to work. True, during the Dot Com rages, there were 30-year-olds hanging up their monkey suits; however, that word still gave that connotation.

But, it didn't apply, really, to him or the other fourteen. Like the Mindlancers and other psionic warriors, Noh and he had extended lifespans _and_ something surprisingly like "eternal youth." He'd stay at frozen at his thirty-three years for quite a few decades.

This was indeed a blessing. Now that he thought about it, he and Noh hadn't had the best of marriages, modern or ancient-Japanese. These years would allow him to mend that relationship completely.

"That dress... I think it would look better in blue," he said to Noh.

His wife fingered the material. "You think so? This red color emphasizes my hair."

He nodded. "True, but it does so by clashing a bit, in my opinion. If it were in blue, probably a dark blue, it would meld with your hair and makeup."

Noh nodded. "Maybe."

He watched Noh's eyes gaze at their empty place. A smile quirked his wife's mouth.

"Well, I have this hunch that I know were you'd want this dress right now."

"Oh?"

Noh slipped one strap off of her shoulder.

He stared at her for a second. Then he smiled and cleared his throat.

"Waiter! Check please!"

* * *

"Chan!" he called to his son. The little crawling rascal was now doing his best to scale a tall bar stool that stood near the wet bar. Liu Bei hurried over and got Chan down before something involving gravity and a hard floor happened. Chan, being a little child, just burbled happily as he deposited his son on the floor. Chan immediately toddled off towards another tall object. His wife saved the little explorer. 

"EMT can't take a little child?" Shang said airily as she walked over and took a seat next to him on the couch. Chan, obviously sensing a nice warm spot next to mommy, fell asleep.

"Not Chan. It's your genes, and I couldn't ever hold you back."

Shang chortled wistfully. "Yes, you have. I got married to you, after all."

He chuckled. "Isn't that a bit different?"

"I don't think so."

He laid his head on her shoulder.

"Hey! I can only take one baby at a time!" she mock-groused.

"You can put Chan in his bed..."

"Oh, you," his wife said, barely keeping back laughter. "Men..."

"But I'm no ordinary man. It was a firefighter's joke that EMTs are hard to nail down."

With the new technology, he really wasn't quite suited to new firefighting procedures. However, the human body was still very much the same. He still extensively knew first aid, and the know-how of then was still valid for the know-how of now. Yes, medical devices were much more efficient, but he was considered one of the best EMTs in the city.

"But, since I _did_ get you, I must be extraordinary."

He considered saying something funny, but somehow...

"Shang," he said in a serious tone, "you are extraordinary. You are the most incredible women I have ever met. You are still the most incredible woman I have ever known."

* * *

It was those things he said that convinced her that Liu Bei was the best. 

"Thank you," she said quietly, her own musing tone disappearing. She thought of what she could say to him. "Bei?"

"Yes?"

"And you are the most extraordinary man I have ever met."

She and Bei just pressed close to each other for a few moments, the peacefully sleeping Chan between them.

Bei pressed his lips to her neck for a second. She snuggled a bit closer.

"You know," said Bei, "in addition to being such a perfect woman, I still think you look good in that two-piece."

She snorted. "Well, if I can get a sitter for a few hours... I hear the beach is quite nice this time of year."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. But you still have to let me race you. I like the competition."

She was still a champion swimmer. A week from today, she would be competing in the city championships. That little stint with poor Lenny Crewfort hadn't been a fluke.

"Do I have a choice to do otherwise?" Bei murmured.

"If you want to see me in that coveted two-piece of yours, no."

"Then I guess I'm racing you," her husband said with a large grin.

* * *

The night was still young, but Makie just wanted to spend it with her husband. 

Makie... not just Makie, but Makie Omori Sanada.

Makie... but still Kunoichi.

She snuggled up closer to Yukimura as moonlight streamed into their bedroom.

"Hey, Yuki," she whispered to him.

"Mm?"

She took his hand and ran it down her stomach. Yuki always told her he liked the smooth, flat, soft-yet-muscled feel.

Oops, he was wandering a little too low. He might miss the message if they started that. Better pull those finger back up.

"What do you feel, sweetheart?"

"I feel someone incredibly beautiful whom I love, that's what." Yukimura smiled roguishly, the dimmed lights barely illuminating him. "And if I could move just a little lower..."

"It's a bit more than that, Yukimura," she said, giggling. "Well, I guess you can't feel it, but, you know what? You're feeling life."

Well, a little more cryptic than her usual way of talking... but perfect for the situation.

She saw surprise stretch his features. "No way!"

"Yes way. My doctor confirmed it today."

"Makie!" She felt her husband's muscular arms wrap around her. "That's wonderful!"

"Sure as heck is, Papa Sanada," she giggled.

Yuki let go and rolled to his side of the bed, placing his hands behind his head. He looked like was staring off into space.

"A father. Huh. Am I ready for that?"

"A mother. Huh. Am I ready for that?" she mirrored.

"Of course you are, my little honey-ninja."

"You too, by super-brave warrior you."

Yuki chuckled and turned his head towards here.

Uh-oh. He had that "I'm-so-damned-in-love-with-you-right-now-please-let's-do-everything-possible-the-human body-can-do."

Well, she was sure she had it too.

She moved over to Yukimura and flopped down on his chest. Her arms drew him closer, and his arms wrapped around her body.

She couldn't think of anything to say right now.

She lowered her head and kissed him passionately.

Well, sometimes actions spoke louder than words.

* * *

What time was it? 

Yukimura took a look at the clock, careful not to jostle Makie, who had her head on his chest. She was probably extremely tired.

Well, he was surprised _he_ had enough energy to wake up. He'd never knew either of them had that _much_ stamina. Even after eighteen or so months.

He turned his head and glanced at the holographic chronometer.

"Hmm..." he muttered to himself. "If I remember... it's almost sunrise."

That would be beautiful to see. The master bedroom of the house faced east, towards the ocean and jungle. Thankfully, the sun rose in the _right_ direction on this world.

It would be beautiful.

But never, ever as beautiful as Makie.

"Up so soon?" he heard his wife say from his chest.

He smiled into the darkness. "How could you tell?"

"I'm a ninja, remember?" Makie answered. He could swear he could feel her smile. "Heartbeat quickened a bit, minute movement, stuff like that."

"Acute senses?" he asked.

"You could say that."

He nodded on his pillow.

"Makie, it's only a few moments until sunrise. Let's take a look."

"Okay."

He tossed the covers off.

"Hey! It's freezing," Makie yelped.

"Yeesh, ninja-chick. Fine, you stay close to my nice warm body, and grab the quilt off the bed.

There was some rustling in the dark. A rather cold, rather sexy, rather bare body plastered to his. He pulled a downy quilt over his and Makie's shoulders.

A finger poked him in the ribs. "Yuki! I feel those goose bumps!"

"So?" he asked challengingly as he led her to the balcony.

"I guess the fiery warrior gets cold sometimes, too."

He smiled and wrapped an arm tighter.

"Even warriors need someone, sometimes."

Makie hugged him tighter as the sky began to brighten. "And so do female ninjas."

There wasn't anything to be said, really. What could be said? He loved her, and she loved him. Nothing more was needed. He tightened his hold on Makie as the sun peeked over the ocean.

He and Makie gazed at the burning orb until it was too bright to look at. Then they retreated back into their room. Hung on one wall were their weapons. Yep, that dojo he and Makie had opened was doing wonderfully. There were always loads of people who wanted to learn fighting styles, human and alien.

He pulled her back down on the bed and stared down at her lovely face.

What to do, what to do?

A romantic kiss seemed in order. He joined his mouth passionately with hers.

Well, it wasn't surprising that their bodies started doing things that involved a tad more than kissing.

But, that was life.

Life went on, and with his love at his side, it would go on gloriously.


End file.
